


Outside

by NikkiBlu



Series: The Secret of Orchid [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 09:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15167900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiBlu/pseuds/NikkiBlu
Summary: Life in the New World is easy, although it can also be a bit boring at times. Maybe the Angel from the sky can bring a bit of excitement into Amy’s life?





	1. The Journey

**Author's Note:**

> Improved version of my first story. Took me a while to rewrite it but I now like it a lot more. There's still two more coming, the second one has its draft completed and only needs some improvements and a couple extra scenes. I hope it won't take too long.

It was the first cold morning of the year. When Amy opened her eyes, she could already see the early light shining through the treetops. It looked like it was about to be another clear day, and by midday the sun would’ve driven away the chill of the night.

The forest was already awake, with all kinds of creatures climbing, leaping, gliding and flying through the trees. An endless stream of noises filled her ears, the chirping, screeching, howling, singing, buzzing and squeaking of thousands of creatures. It didn’t bother her at all. She was used to it. She could feel cold morning dew on her skin. It didn’t bother her, either.

There was something that felt like an eternal fire burning deep inside her body, a warmth that even the cold of winter could not reach. The light chill of a night in early fall was nothing.

She felt a tingling sensation in her chest when her heartbeat switched. Apparently her body had decided that it was day now.

Something moved on her arm. She raised it to look at it. A white, fuzzy creature with a long body and many legs climbed it until it reached her fingers, where it stopped. Its long feelers were now waving around, swaying back and forth, trying to find something new to climb onto. She moved her arm towards the massive, overgrown tree root to her right, one of the two she had been sleeping in between, and the creature continued on its way.

For a moment she stared at her hand. The black tissue over the joints gave it a bit of a segmented look, even though the bones beneath were connected normally. She had this tissue at other parts of her body, as well. Mostly over the joints.

Her body had been different, once. But even though she knew they hadn’t always looked like this, it didn’t feel that way. The way they were now, it seemed perfectly natural, like it was simply the way it was supposed to be.

After laying still for a few more minutes, she decided to get up and leave her little hiding spot under the big tree. Its trunk was lifted up by several of its massive roots. Each one was thick enough to rival the trunks of smaller trees, high enough so she could easily stand upright under it, creating a natural shelter.

  


Amy weaved through the forest and its obstacles like she had done it a million times before. She was constantly looking to find the path with the least underbrush, ducking under branches or the strings of fungus. Seemingly without effort she jumped over fallen trees and huge roots, or across creeks and naturally formed ditches. The trees were getting smaller here, a sign that she was about to reach the edge of the forest. She knew the direction, of course, and if her estimations were correct, she would reach the meadow around Irontop Hill in about ten minutes. This year she wouldn’t miss the migration of the cloud skates.

She stopped when she spotted something brightly yellow in the corner of her eye. A lemon sponge, and a ripe and big one at that. Amy picked it and put it in her bag for later, while she memorized the place. In one or two years, this entire area would be full of them. Good news for the settlement. This kind in particular was always a welcome treat.

  


Irontop Hill apparently used to indeed have iron in its top, but that was during a time Amy couldn’t be bothered to recall right now. It didn’t matter. The metal had all rusted and washed away by now. Now only it's slightly jagged shape gave away that the hill used to be an artificial structure at some point. Or rather, a tiny remnant of it.

The great change had dissolved all buildings and everything made of metal so thoroughly, that it had been difficult to find any traces of it, even right after it had happened. Places like this hill, where vague shapes of the Old World were still visible, were a rarity these days. Not that it mattered. The age of metal was long over, and the Old World little more than a few surreal, distant memories.

While focussing on her ascend, she lost awareness of her surroundings for a moment. Therefore she was a bit surprised when she suddenly found herself confronted by a brutish monstrosity, about as wide as she was tall and almost twice as long. The creature had six legs, plus another pair of clawed front-appendages, and an eyeless head that looked like it came straight from a nightmare. Its body and thick limbs were covered in jagged, chitinous plates that were shimmering in an eerie red.

She smiled. “Hey, there. I didn’t know you live here.”

The krell, a female, clicked a bit and scuttled away. It seemed annoyed at the unexpected visitor, but Amy knew she had nothing to be worried about. Krell were entirely harmless, it was just their creepy appearance one had to get used to.

She eventually found a nice lookout point to settle down. The lake was right in front of her, and it was already full of skates. Most were floating on the water, resting and feeding on the thick carpets of water plants for the big journey. She assumed they would take off around noon. Surrounding the lake was an open plain, covered in grass and blood-red lichen, dotted with wild bushes and flowers of all kinds. It created a dazzling mixture of colors. She took out her paper and started sketching. It was good paper, she had made it herself, from the thin, clean bark of certain trees.

An odd, rumbling noise pulled her out of it. She stood up and looked for the source. It was easy to spot, a bright fireball that was falling down from the sky to her left. She squinted. What was that? It seemed fairly big. Another piece of space debris? Or maybe even a natural meteorite? Whatever it was, it was about to come down pretty close. She quickly packed up her belongings and shot a last glance at the lake, sighing. Looks like the skates had to wait another year. Oh well.

This was much more interesting.

  


When Amy came closer to the landing site, cautiously making her way through the blooming brushes, she could feel both of her hearts beat in excited unison. It became apparent that the foreign object was clearly artificial, and also entirely intact. Looking like some kind of capsule or pod, it was standing upright, stabilized by several harpoons it had fired into the ground while touching down. It had already opened and spilled a large amount of watery liquid onto the ground.

Next to the capsule was a man. He was dressed in clothing made from an unusual, black and smooth material. Boots, a pair of pants and a coat reaching his thighs, all tightly fitting but in a style that didn’t look like it was from this world. He was currently bent forward, supporting himself on the capsule with his left arm and coughing violently. His clothing looked dry, weirdly enough, although his skin and his black, neatly cut hair was wet.

Amy went a little bit closer, carefully, trying to get a look at his face. When she saw it, she gasped. She hadn’t seen a face like that in…a very, very long time. In fact, the last time she saw a face like that she had worn a similar one herself. Back, during the time before the great change. When she had been like him.

He was clearly modified, though. The metal parts in his temples were an obvious giveaway. Their purpose became evident when he put on the weird mask he was holding. It snapped right into place, and for a moment he stood up straight, completely still.

The mask was made from a glossy, white material and entirely plain, except for two upward-angled eye holes and a symbol on the forehead. Even at that distance, her eyes were sharp enough to recognize it. It was the sigil of the Exalted, this strange, vertical eye. It actually wasn’t supposed to be an eye, but something else she had forgotten. Some people in this world still worshipped the Exalted, so the symbol kept popping up here and there. However, at this point it was usually more of a habit than anything else.

He finally noticed her and turned around. She raised her hand to greet him.

“Hello! I’m Amy. Amy Walters.”

He stood entirely still for a moment, before relaxing a bit. “Oh. Greetings. I am Operator Alpha-8E1, currently in service of the Exalted Besa.”

“Operator?” She blinked and thought for a moment, but quickly remembered the meaning of this word, even though she hadn’t used it in a very long time. “Oh, so you’re an Angel? I mean, hi! Uhm...welcome to...Earth?”

“Thank you, Amy.” His voice sounded a little distant and reserved.

“Wait, in service of Besa? The Exalted Besa? So...I guess that means I’m in the presence of a god now?”

“Please do not be intimidated. We wish no harm.”

She wondered for a moment. How do you even behave around a god? Was there something she was supposed to do? Did it matter? She decided to just act natural, for now. “Okay then. Anyway, uhm, what brings you down here?”

There was a short pause before the Angel answered. A light breeze blew through the bushes, causing them to rustle, while tugging a little at the seams of his coat. It carried the faint smell of something delicious. “This is a surveillance mission. It is good that we managed to encounter one of your kind so quickly. Would you be willing to answer a few questions?”

“Uhm, sure!”

The masked man coughed again, then cleared his throat. “My apologies. Amy. Are you in danger right now?”

“What? Danger? What kind of danger?”

“Is there currently anyone, or anything, who, or that, threatens your physical or emotional well-being, or wishes to inflict on you harm of any classification?”

She snorted through her secondary nostrils. “Oh man, the way you talk...can you turn that down, please?”

“My apologies. I will try. Can you please answer the question?”

“Well, no? Not as far as I know, at least.”

“Good. Is anyone you know in danger of any kind?”

“Nope. We’re all safe and sound.”

He responded with a tiny nod. “Are all your physical needs properly met?”

She blinked. “What?”  
“Do you have enough food, water, clothing and shelter?” he clarified.

“Oh. Yeah. I got plenty, thanks.”

“And the people you know?”

“Yupp. We’re all doing good. Stuff is still growing everywhere.”

“How about your emotional state? Erm, I mean. Are you...happy?”

Amy hesitated a bit before answering. That wasn’t quite the question she had expected. “Happy...uh, sure, yeah, I guess. I can’t complain, at least, I mean there is nothing wrong with my life or anything. And before you ask: Yes, the others are all doing well, too, as far as I can tell.”

“That is good to hear. What is that?”

She had taken out the sponge she had found earlier in the forest. “Lemon sponge. Looks good, doesn’t it? We’ll have a lot of those in the next years.”

“That’s...good? What do you do with that?”

Instead of answering, she plucked off a piece and ate it.

“...I see.”

“Want some?”

“I’m sorry, Amy. But I’m afraid that might kill me.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Oh, right! Sorry, I totally forgot about that for a moment! Wait…” She remembered something else. “...will you even be okay? What about the, uh, microbes and stuff?”

  


The great transformation had replaced the entire microfauna with something different. Something that more or less did the job of the old one, but it would never make you sick. Unless, of course, you were a Human of the old kind. Then it would overwhelm your immune system in a matter of days or even hours. Amy had only heard about what happened after that. Thankfully she had never seen it herself.

  


The Angel made a calming gesture. “Don’t worry. I was outfitted with a supply of na- I mean, tiny organic machines that are-”

“Nanobodies? I know what those are.”

“...oh, good. Anyway, they should protect me for at least two or three weeks. More than enough to complete our mission.”

“Oh, that’s a relief. Well, I guess you have no time to lose, then? What will you do next?”

“We have to collect some samples.”

“What kind?”

“Plants, animals, whatever we can get. And, uhm...we would like to take a tissue sample from you, as well. Only with your consent, of course. You don’t have to, we will can also just find someone else.”

“Uhm. Will that hurt?”

“Just a little bit.”

“Oh. Okay then. Actually, you know, I’d love to help! What do I have to do?” She put the sponge back into her bag while the Angel reached into his coat and took out a small, pointy device.

“Just give me your arm and hold still for a bit. Your kind still regenerates as well as it used to?”

“Sure!” She rolled up the right sleeve of the light, cream-colored tunic she was wearing. The plant fibres it was made from were robust, yet gave it an almost silken structure. It had few decorations, aside from some small carvings made from colorful krell carapace.

“Okay, good. One moment…” He placed the device on her upper arm and a second later, Amy felt a sharp little sting. But it went away quickly, as usual. There was a little bit of dark blood, but it didn’t take long and the wound started disappearing. As usual.

The Operator put the sample into a small tube filled with some kind of liquid. “Thank you for your cooperation, Amy, that was very helpful. You can go now.”

“Wait, no,” she protested, “I can still help you!”

“That really won’t be necessary-”

“Oh come on! This is exciting! You said you need samples? I can show you rare plants and stuff like that!”

He raised his hands. “...there is no need for that. We are mostly interested in the more common and evolutionarily successful kinds and-”

“Gotcha! Here, look.” She reached down and grabbed a handful from the growth on the ground. “It’s hay lichen. Super common, grows everywhere!”

He hesitantly took a small bit and placed it into another tube. “...thank you, Amy. Your help is much appreciated.”

“No problem! Uhm, what was your name again?”

“Alpha-8E1.”

“That’s not a name.”

“We Operators are not supposed to have one.”

“Really, huh. Hm, Alpha-8E1...8E1...E-one...Evan? Oh, that’s good! Is it okay if I call you Evan?”

He stared at her for a moment through this emotionless mask. “I guess...I can’t stop you?”

“Great! Alright, Evan, let’s-” She fell silent as she heard the hissing and turned around. A krell of the same kind she had met on Irontop Hill - possibly the exact same one - was approaching quickly. Amy could tell from the way it moved that it was very upset. “Whoa, whoa, buddy, calm down-”

“Amy! You have to get away from me!”

“Wait, we need to-”

Evan ran off, and the krell, clearly only interested in him, changed its course accordingly. Suddenly, Evan was covered head to toe in some black, metallic...stuff, something that seemed to be simultaneously liquid and crystalline. Only the mask was left uncovered, the mask and the odd device he now had in his hand. Wait. Was that...a gun? A weapon?

He aimed it at the krell, who was entirely unimpressed by that. It charged. Evan fired. The gun shot a pale, white beam, accompanied by a booming thunderclap. It didn’t do any visible damage, and yet, the krell ceased being alive in an instant. Evan gracefully dodged to the side as it tumbled past him, a sad, lifeless mass of carapace and legs, carried forward only by its own momentum.

Amy could see the black stuff disappearing into something under his clothes somewhere on his back, sliding over his skin and clothing like oil.

  


Quietly, slowly, she walked over to the dead krell. Blinking away tears she touched one of the legs, carefully. Her hand was trembling.

“We...we are sorry, Amy.”

She took a moment, swallowed. Took a deep breath and sighed. “No, I...understand. You had to...you had to defend yourself.”

“Are you sad?”

She looked at him, assuming that her eye color would answer the question. Then she remembered that this wasn’t a thing for Old World Humans and felt silly. “...it’s fine.”

He came over as well, holding his sample-device. “Is that a common kind?”

She looked away. “Yes. They are solitary predators. We call them bears.”

“Interesting. I learned about animals called like that but they looked very different.” He took a sample.

“What kind of weapon is that?” she asked.

“We…” He swallowed. “I mean, we Operators usually just call them stoppers.”

“Stoppers...the ability to stop life?” she guessed.

“Yes.”

“Just like that. Bam.”

“Well, yes. A stopper halts all life processes in an organism down to the cellular level, causing instant and painless death.”

“Wow. Cool.” Her voice made it clear that she didn’t really think that was cool.

“It doesn’t matter how strong or big the target is, one hit is always enough.”

She looked at him. “Oh, really? What’s next, you’re gonna try this out on us, too?”

“Wha- no!” Even though she could not see his face, his body language told her that he was shocked for a moment. “That’s impossible, it wouldn’t even, I mean, we, uh, we do not have the authorization to use lethal force against Humans of either kind. I mean, I could never hurt you, Amy!”

“Not even to defend yourself?”

“No.”

She straightened herself and crossed her arms. “Oh? What if Humans attacked you?”

“Then I’d have to de-escalate the situation.”

“If that doesn’t work?”

“Run away.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

He was quiet for a moment, then shrugged a little. “Then I will be remembered.”

“Oh. I...see.” She took another deep breath. “Sorry. I guess I was just a bit shaken by, well, that.” She shook her head, trying to clear it. “Man, we’re really not good with violence anymore.”

“It is probably for the best if you go home now, Amy. We’ll take it from here.” He turned around to leave. She waited a bit, thinking. Then she sighed once more, and followed him. She couldn’t let this chance at a small diversion pass, no matter what.

“What are you doing?”

“Well, I told you I would help you, didn’t I? And,” she tried her best to sound positive again, “you always have to keep your promises!”

  


\----------

  


Together, it took merely a few hours and Evan had run out of empty tubes. And all without killing anything, after she convinced him to keep his weapon where it was and showed him how to catch certain, small creatures alive. They even got a floater at some point. Thankfully, no further krell showed up.

He explained they had to go back to the capsule.

  


With the perfect lighting of the golden afternoon sun, she decided to draw a sketch of him while he was using some kind of technological device to do...something.

“What are you doing?” he asked her after a while.

“Preserving memories.” She looked up. “What are _you_ doing?”

“Analyzing. However, we seem to have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“A crucial part of my equipment is broken, I can’t get it to boot up. We are not sure if it happened during the landing or if some of the microfauna already managed to get into it. Dammit.”

“So much for your amazing technology. Can’t you fix it?”

“No. Not here, not like that. It seems we will need a lab of some kind. And soon. Besa tells me there is only one place where we can still find such a thing.”

“Mhm. Wait, can you hold still for a minute.”

“I will try. Amy, do you know this place? Apparently it is called Orchid.”

Amy froze mid-stroke. Orchid? The huge, grim fortress, originally built by the Exalted, a long time ago. She hadn’t thought about this place in a while, but everybody knew the tragic story.

  


The transformation hadn’t just affected Humanity and Earth’s whole biosphere, but also “dissolved” all technology and artificial structures. Entire cities had effectively been wiped off the map, leaving their changed and confused inhabitants to wake up in seemingly new, unfamiliar places. Amy herself still very vaguely remembered being at home one moment, getting hit by something, and waking up in the middle of an alien forest the next. She had been one of the few people not in high reality at the time, but she never saw what it was. The few who managed to observe it had described it as a huge, rapidly moving wave of metallic foam that engulfed everything.

Whatever it was, pretty much everything Humanity and the Exalted had ever created in this world had been undone in a single event, replacing it with a bizarre - but entirely natural - paradise.

Except Orchid. Something must have happened there, and the transformation of the place was prevented - nobody knew why and how. Whatever it was, it had also saved a small number of people who, for reasons long forgotten, had been present there at the time. Apparently their descendants still lived there, now often called Orchidians. Stranded on a tiny island of old Earth, in the middle of an ocean of death.

The new Humans, or Heirs, as they were now usually called, had attempted to help them, of course. But they never had any meaningful success and often ended up doing more harm than good. Eventually they had given up, accepting that there was little they could do. The Exalted, for reasons only known to them, hadn’t tried much. Quite the opposite. The Exalted had been veryquiet since that time.

  


“I know where that is.” she finally replied, while continuing her drawing. “I actually saw it once, but I haven’t been there in a long time.”

“That isn’t a problem. Are you finished? We have some map data, and would like to set off as soon as possible.”

Amy suspected the “we” only meant Evan and Besa, not her. “Mhm...hold on, you want to walk there?”

“What else can we do?”

“What about the krell? They’ll all react as violently towards you as the bear back then, won’t they?”

“Yes, I’m afraid. Unfortunately, should we meet any, we will have to fight them.”

“There may not be many in this area, since we’re close to settlements. But other places are basically crawling with them.”

“We know. This landing spot was chosen for a reason. Don’t worry, we have already plotted a route that will lead us mostly through inhabited regions, to keep contact with the krell to a minimum.”

“Really…” She finished up her sketch. Bit rough, but it would do. “So you don’t know that we domesticated a few species?”

“What?”

“You didn’t? Most of the groups have them now. They’re pretty useful and actually quite friendly when you get to know them. Well, as long as you are, well, like us.” She got up and packed her things into her bag.

“No, we did not know that. It seems our...information is outdated.”

“Oh? So you’re not _actually_ planning to go from place to place, waving your fancy gun around, killing all of our livestock and terrifying everyone? That’s good to hear!”

He quietly stared at her. Not much for sarcasm, apparently.

Amy kept wondering what the purpose of that mask was. Not having color-changing eyes was one thing, but why hide the entire face? Was that symbolic somehow? There must have been a reason, but she couldn’t remember. She looked down for a moment. “Sorry.”

“Do you have a suggestion?”

“Well. I could guide you. I know the area, for a good part of the way, at least, and I know what to look for to tell if krell are in the area. With my help, you should be able to avoid most of the trouble between here and Orchid.”

“You must have other liabilities. We have already taken up too much of your time.”

“No, I don’t, actually, not right now. And time…” She shrugged. “I have plenty of time. I have more time than I will ever need.”

Another one of those pauses. Was he communicating with his master or something?

“You seem to be very keen on helping us.”

“Am I not supposed to? ‘Be as helpful as possible towards the agents of the Exalted.’ Something like that was written in the Guide, wasn’t it?”

He seemed a little surprised. “The Guide? You are still following it?”

“How was the saying? ‘Humans are flawed and can’t be objectively good, but follow the Guide if you want to come as close as possible.’” Now it was Amy who took a thoughtful pause, feeling a little bit worried. “Is that not right? Is the Guide not correct, or outdated or something?”

“No. It is still considered correct. But the book is also more than three thousand years old.”

“And?”

Evan did a tiny shrug. “Nothing. We were just surprised.”

“So. Do you want me to help you or not?”

“Very well. Your plan seems reasonable. We accept.”

Amy made a tiny jump. “Great! Hmm, I guess that means I’ll be gone for a while. I should probably let the others know...oh well, I’m sure we’ll come across a plexus knot sooner or later.”

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

“You’ll see! Alright, you ready?”

“Hold on.” He went to the capsule and opened another side compartment, took out a few items and stored them in the pockets of his coat.

“Ready.”

“Alright! See if you can keep up!” she shouted, as the started running off.

  


\----------

  


The sun was getting low when she decided to take a break at the edge of another forest, dominated by very large trees. Evan had started falling behind, panting and gasping.

Amy was a little out of breath, but not too much. “Not bad. For an Oldworlder.”

“I’ve been...augmented…but this...” he brought out between breaths.

“Yeah, alright, please take a break. I have to do something.” She went over to the purple-black-ish, bud-shaped growth on a nearby tree.

It wasn’t part of the tree - some of the “roots” it was growing on had pierced the red bark, others were disappearing into the ground. People had originally believed they were parasites, but they didn’t seem to harm the trees they were growing on. Whatever the case, they were all connected.

She touched it with her palm, and it opened immediately. When it tightened around her hand, she closed her eyes and focussed. A void filled with a network of many, many glowing dots stretched in front of her. It didn’t take long to find the right one. Focussing on it, she touched it with her thoughts and gave it a little push until it reacted. It would open as well, and the bells and chimes attached to it would alert whoever was nearby. After a moment, she heard a voice inside her head.

“Walters here! Hello!”

“Mom? It’s me!”

“Oh, Amy, dear! Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine, don’t worry.”

“Did you get to see the skates?”

“No...uhm...listen, mom, there is this Angel, you know, he’s on a mission for Besa. I think it’s pretty important. I’m helping him, so I’ll be gone for a few days.”

Silence for a moment. “Angel...you mean, an Operator? Amy, you’re not messing with me, are you? I thought these don’t exist anymore, the last time I saw one was, hmm, when was that again…”

“Yes, I was a little surprised, too, but he is real! He needs to get to Orchid, so I decided to show him the way.”

“Orchid? Really? Oh dear. Promise me you will be careful, this place is not safe, the people there are...you know…”

“Yes, I know, I know. I promise I will be careful.”

“Just stay safe, okay? Oh, and don’t forget, the Indigo Festival will be in two weeks. You think you can be back until then?”

“Will try! Gotta go now, love you, mom! Tell the others I said hi!”

“Will do that! I love you too, Amy! And good luck with your friend!”

Amy closed the connection and made the knot release her hand. She had to shake it a bit to get rid of the tingly feeling. When she turned around, Evan had caught his breath and was watching her curiously.

“Is that a ‘plexus knot’?”

“It is. I just called home, so my folks know what’s going on.”

“Interesting. An organic information network?”

“I guess you could call it that. Although it’s a far cry from the, uh, other one we had...back then. We can’t do much more than talk to each other. However, since we figured out how to control their growth, we now have one in every home.”

“Do you hear anything else when you connect to it?”

She tilted her head. What was he getting at now? The mask was as impenetrable as always. “Well, not really. Some white noise when you’re unfocused, but you just have to ignore that and concentrate. Takes a while to to get used to, but then it’s actually pretty easy. Why?”

“It could be a part of the krell network.”

“Krell network…” She shrugged. “Is that what Besa thinks? I’m not sure about that. At least I’ve never seen a krell use a knot.”

“It’s possible that it serves another purpose. We can only observe it from afar, but many of the developments on this planet don’t seem the result of random evolution.” He started walking again, and she quickly got back in front, looking for the best path.

“You think there’s something else?” she asked after a little while, suddenly having a vague idea what he might be talking about.

“It could be. Some kind of strange intelligence. Do you know anything about this?”

“There’s, uhm. I mean, I’ve met people who believe in what they called the Guardian. Or Gaia. The Great Mother...I don’t know. The Planet. Nature. Or something.”

“Humans in the past have often believed in nature deities.”

She shrugged again, not quite sure what to make of all this. “Sure, I guess.”

“Do you believe there is anything to it?”

She was about to say something dismissive, but then she stopped walking, and so did he. She didn’t turn around, but instead stared to the side and into the forest, at nothing in particular. “Actually, I don’t know what to believe anymore. Back then, when I was a child, everyone...believed in the Exalted. They were real, and then they were gone. Well, at least I thought that, and now you are here. But...I don’t know. I’m spending a lot of time out here in the wilderness. I see things and hear things I can’t really explain. Sometimes I figure out explanations, only to find more mysteries. Plants, animals, the fungus, the krell...everything is so powerful, yet in a constant state of harmony.”

“Harmony?”

“Yes. No matter what we do, we cannot seem to disrupt or cause permanent damage to it. It always bounces back, stabilizes, goes back to this...harmony. It’s not hard to see why people start to believe that there might be something more at play.” She finally turned around to face him. “Some say the Exalted are still at work here. Taking care of things. Just like back then.”

He didn’t answer.

She sighed. “But does it even matter what I believe? Our memory can get fuzzy. The only real thing is what I can see and hear and smell right in this moment. Everything else, who knows.” She gave a faint smile and began to turn back towards the path. “Like, I remember seeing this huge, flying krell some months ago. I’ve never seen this type before and I never saw it again. But is that memory even real? Was it a dream? I just don’t know anymore…”

Evan followed her quietly for a few minutes.

Suddenly, she could tell that something was off and gave a hand signal to stop. “There is something, but I’m not sure where it is.”

“Hold on...yes. We can see it move.”

“See what?” She turned around.

He was covered in his black stuff again and had already taken out the stopper, now looking up and aiming it at something above. She lifted her head and tried to see at what, but then he had already fired, causing her to flinch and shriek at the loud noise.

A krell fell out of the tree, a crawler. Smaller than the bears, but much better at climbing.

“Besa watches over me,” he said, before suddenly turning around and aiming again, this time at something further in the forest.

She shut her eyes and tried to cover her ears, but still winced at the loud shot. When she opened her eyes again they were cloudy with tears. Evan had his weapon lowered. Was it over? A faint hissing behind her caused her to whip around.

Another one.

She raised her hands in a calming manner. “No, please! It’s okay! Just, just go away! Leave us alone, please!”

The crawler recoiled as she took a step towards it. Maybe she could shoo it away…

But then it shot to the side, jumped, ran up a tree, jumped again. Before she could do anything, the krell was now exactly between her and Evan, assuming a threatening posture towards him, hissing and shrieking. The Angel attempted to back off while also moving to the side, lifting his gun, but it apparently wasn’t enough. The krell attacked, and another thunderclap ended its life.

Amy cursed and almost collapsed to the ground, trying her hardest to fight down this powerful, debilitating feeling. But she couldn’t break down, not now. “W-we have to leave, now. This place isn’t safe, they live in c-colonies, m-more will-”

Evan said nothing, instead he came over and grabbed her arm, trying to support her. His grip was gentle, but firm. She pointed in a direction that should allow them to go through a different part of the forest, although it would cost them extra time. After a minute or so, the bad feeling went away.

It took her a bit to find a new route. Silently, she led the Angel through an area where the forest had overgrown exposed rocks. The trees didn’t stop at anything, sitting on bare stone when necessary, sending rope-like roots down to find soil. Alone she wouldn't have any trouble, but was worried the Angel would have problems. Glancing back, he was struggling a little with the slippery rocks, but trying his best to keep up.

“Type seven.” he said suddenly.

She stopped and turned around. “What?”

“The krell you saw. We are trying to categorize them.” He made a small gesture towards the direction they came from. “The ones I killed back there are considered type one. Just basic warriors. Type seven is a series of species that are very large, yet capable of high-altitude flight. They are seen rarely, but we have observed them from orbit.”

For a moment she just stood there in surprise.

  


\----------

  


“Evan, do you have night vision?” asked Amy when darkness fell over the forest.

“I do.”

“Okay, good. Starlight is enough for me, but we shouldn’t run anymore. It’s a bit risky.”

“I actually don’t mind walking normally for a bit.”

“Getting tired? Wait, how much sleep do you need? Should we rest instead?”

“No need. Hold on.” He took out some kind of injector and jabbed it into his forearm. Took a deep, sharp breath and released it slowly.

“Ow. What was that now?”

“It removes tiredness and the effects of sleep deprivation. If I keep taking it I won’t need to sleep for the next few days.”

“That can’t be healthy.”

“It’s not.”

“Oh.”

He shrugged. “Sleeping in this place would be far more dangerous. What about you?”

“Well, I’m fine with about two hours. I’ll get it later, during the time when the krell are the least active.”

“Okay. Just let me know when the time comes.”

“Yeah, sure...uhm...will you really be okay?” She pointed at his arm. “With that stuff, I mean?”

“Yes, don’t worry. As long as I get back fast enough.”

“I see. Well, then,” she tried to offer an encouraging smile, “let’s not lose too much time, then!”

  


They had left the rocky area behind and were now making their way through a zone overgrown with large fungus, forming something similar to a dense forest. There were almost no actual trees here. The tall fungi taking their place stretched their leafless, knotted, tentacle-like branches skywards. The spores they released formed clumps, slowly drifting in the air, looking like weightless snow. Some smaller types were giving of a faint blue or green glow, making Amy’s job at finding a path in the darkness much easier.

“Are these old ruins?” asked the Angel, breaking the silence of the night.

They were indeed currently passing some rubble that was all that remained of some old, abandoned stone buildings.

Amy turned around and stopped. “Yes. Used to be a village called Aruna. I visited a few times back then.”

“From the Old World?”

She blinked, trying to figure out whether he had made a joke. She suppressed a chuckle when she realized he was serious. “Uhm, no? This was abandoned no longer than a few decades ago.”

The Angel looked around, studying the fungus that had overgrown everything to the point where the remains of the settlement were barely visible anymore. “Is this rapidly growing plantlife the reason why your kind has given up on rebuilding?”

Amy was shocked for a second. “Huh? But of course we are building things.”

“Right. Small, temporary settlements. So it would be correct to assume this used to be one of them? From what we can observe, they rarely last more than a few years or decades. Then the inhabitants abandon it and go back to wandering.”

Amy crossed her arms and gave the Angel an inquisitive look. “Was that Besa right now?”

“What?”

She grinned. “You keep switching between ‘I’ and ‘we’. I thought one means it’s Evan who’s talking, the other is Besa.”

The Angel stared at her, then shook his head. “The reason for this...hold on, no. I mean, the Exalted cannot speak directly to Humans. That’s why they have created Operators like me. Our brains are altered and augmented to the point where we are able to comprehend their voices, while still being able to converse with regular Humans.”

“So I can’t talk to Besa directly?”

“Of course not. Communion with the divine is my duty and my purpose. You wouldn't be able to comprehend anything. Even for me, Besa had to split off one of their Aspects first and slow it down significantly. This makes it possible for our minds to be partially merged.”

Amy crossed her arms, trying her best to understand. “I see. Does this mean it’s, I don’t know, hard to keep track? Of who is who, I mean?”

“I apologize for confusing you. I am not as experienced as I should be, especially for a difficult mission like this.”

“Oh, it’s okay, don’t worry!” she said reassuringly. “I think you’re doing pretty good, actually. So,” She suspected it was probably inappropriate to ask, but the question slipped out anyway. “What does it feel like, having your mind connected to a god?”

“I don’t think it is possible to explain it in words you could understand. It is like the difference between dreaming and being awake.” He didn’t seem bothered by the question, but he also didn’t explain it any further than that, apparently thinking this to be enough.

Amy didn’t dare to press further. “Not sure if I understand that, but okay...hey careful, don’t touch that one.” She pointed at a light brown, heavily branching fungus about three times her height. Thanks to the bioluminescence of other types close to it, it was easy to see the glistening on its surface.

“Dangerous?” He asked.

“Not really. I mean, for you, I don’t know. But at that time of year they get really sticky.”

“I...see.” He made sure to keep his distance. “So why does your kind move around so much?” he asked after making sure he was out of danger.

“It just feels better.”

“That’s it? How?”

She shrugged. “Staying in one place is easier for some and harder for others.” She explained, while trying to find the best path through the rampant fungus ahead of them. ”For me, it’s hard. Others in my group have an easier time, and sometimes we decide to build a village and stay for a few years, maybe even a decade or two. But even then…” She shrugged again. “It’s just boring. We want to see new things. That’s all.”

“That’s all? That’s why you’ve given up?”

“What do you mean by ‘given up’?”

“After the change, efforts were observed, trying to rebuild cities. But they were all stopped. In some places, some smaller settlements remained, but that is all.”

“Oh, that…” Amy tried to recall that time, but the memory was hazy. “Yeah, I think I remember that time. Lots of people kind of panicked and insisted to put in as much effort as possible to build new cities and all that. They barely had the materials, or the knowledge, since you know, in the Old World all that stuff was done automatically? Still, they tried. They knew it was impossible, or it would need an insane amount of time, but they still tried. And then they stopped.”

“Yes. But why? If it’s just time, they had plenty of it now, correct?”

“Yeah…” She picked a small, light-brown mushroom from a patch while sorting her thoughts. Caramel mushroom, a lucky find. She picked a few more and put them away for later.

“Hard to explain,” she finally continued. “It was like...we had everything we needed, and plenty of it. There was nothing we lacked, only things we missed, and we wouldn’t be getting those back, anyway. Living in this world was of course totally different. It took time to get used to it, but after that, it’s not bad at all. It’s safe and nice, but it also feels real, and there’s a lot to do if you’re a bit creative. So I believe, everyone who got crazy about bringing back the Old World as much as possible eventually asked themselves...why? And they realized, they couldn’t find an answer.”

“I see.”

“Is this a bad thing?” She looked up from the mushrooms, now sounding worried. “I mean, long ago our ancestors build and created all these things. Cities, machines, gods...but we don’t. Maybe you’re right. Maybe we have given up, in a way.”

“Well, what do you think? Is it a bad thing?”

She had to think for a moment. “I...don’t know. It doesn’t feel like it, but...maybe it should? Or maybe I’m just wondering, what did they have that we don’t? What did we lose?”

Now it was the Angel’s turn to think, or whatever it was he did when he fell quiet. “Perhaps all they had was an answer to that question,” he finally said.

She bit her lip, unsure what to say. So she just turned around and went back to looking for a path.

  


They stopped when they came to an area deep in the fungus forest, filled with knee-high mushrooms giving off a particularly strong glow. The blue light was strong enough to make everything easy to see, although it also gave the entire place an eerie atmosphere. The spore flakes drifting down from the large tree mushrooms above were especially dense here, and they seemed to glow as well.

The Angel looked around in fascination.

“It’s pretty, huh?” asked Amy after a moment, taking in the view as well.

“Yes.” He didn’t say anything further, instead squatting down to take a closer look at the ground. “What do you think is the purpose of these fungus forests?” he finally asked.

Amy sighed internally. Couldn’t he enjoy something for once, without bringing up another heavy question? But of course, gathering information was his mission, she reminded herself.

She shrugged. “Who knows. Producing lots of food maybe?”

“This is all edible?” he wondered, getting up and looking up the stem of a mushroom the size of a large tree.

“The taste of the big ones isn’t great, but sure. Most types of krell feed on them, too.”

“Considering how much biomass these...forests produce, that makes sense.”

“Right? I mean, we’re right in the middle of a redclaw breeding ground right now.”

“ _What?!_ ” he pulled out his gun in a quick, fluid motion and looked around, checking all directions.

“Hey calm down! They’ve moved on about a week ago. There is no danger here!”

“Oh. That is...are you sure? How can you tell?” He still seemed on high alert, having his weapon up.

“There’s traces everywhere. But none are new.”

He looked around quietly, while putting the stopper away. “I can’t tell. Are you sure?”

“It’s pretty obvious.”

“How are you doing this?”

She just smiled mysteriously, not answering.

  


Morning was approaching when she found a nice place next to a huge, fallen tree with plenty of dry, soft lichen, but she decided to add some more to it. Her body would forgive her if she slept on jagged rocks, but that didn’t change the fact that soft beds just felt a lot nicer.

She was just glad they had made it out of the fungus area in time. She never liked sleeping in those. Something in the air caused bad dreams, and the spores always stuck to everything.

“Should I stand watch?” asked Evan, while he watched her working. “You would probably be safer if you were alone, right?”

“Yes, and I’d also like to have some privacy, thank you very much.”

“Oh, yes. Of course. I will take a look around and be back in two hours.”

“Don’t get into trouble, okay?”

“No need to worry about me. Sleep well.”

  


When she woke up she heard a stopper shot somewhere in the distance and groaned. No trouble at all. At least it didn’t take her long to find a patch of starchy sprouts. A bit bland, but good enough for a quick breakfast.

  
  



	2. The Journey

Later that day, they came across a spring, a tiny stream of water running over a large, overgrown boulder into a beautiful little pond, and decided to take a break. Evan appreciated the clean water, and she preferred it like that as well. Heirs never seemed to get sick of anything, and she could drink filthy mud water if necessary, but she tried to get the clean stuff whenever possible. Old habits, maybe.

She found some ruby fruits nearby and Evan took out some of his own food. Sealed bars of something that turned out to be tightly packed, perfectly shaped cubes. They looked smooth and had a color like honey. He tilted his mask backwards to eat, so she could see his mouth.

“Can I have one of those?” she asked while pointing at the cubes.

“I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t eat that.”

“Can I have one anyway?”

“Sorry, no.”

“Aw. What do they taste like?”

“Like...normal? I don’t know. I rarely eat anything else. The Exalted give it to us, it contains all we need. What do these fruits taste like?”

“Uh, sweet, and a little bit tangy, like-” she stopped abruptly and thought for a moment. “...like that food we had back then. I think. I forgot what it was called. What did it look like again...”

“Is everything alright?”

She shook it off. “Yes. But man, same food every day? Being an Angel must be tough.”

“It’s alright, I don’t mind it.”

“What is it like?” She tried her best not to sound too excited, even though she had been dying to ask this question. “You grew up in space, right? I mean...if you’re okay with answering these questions...and if you’re allowed to answer them? Damn, I hope I’m not rude or anything.”

“No, it’s fine. I grew up in high reality, actually. I didn’t see my physical body until I was an adult.”

“Wow, really? That’s crazy.”

“You think? Seems pretty normal for me. I mean, that’s just how they make us. Even now I spend most of my time there. It’s where all my friends are.”

“Your friends? Other Angels?”

“Some of them. As well as spirits. And sometimes, an Exalted manifests one of their Aspects.”

“Mhm...being down here, in this place, that must be so weird for you.”

“It certainly is…” He looked around. “I mean, I was prepared with simulations and all that, but being physically in the real thing is pretty amazing, to be honest. It’s a bit scary, but this place has a strange, wild beauty to it, and it just keeps surprising me. It is certainly not what I was originally trained for.”

“You get used to it after a couple hundred years.”

They were quiet for a moment, eating in silence.

“Amy?”

“Yes?”

“Do you remember the Old World?”

“Just some tiny little fragments.”

“I see.”

“How long ago was that, again?” she asked. “I stopped keeping track at some point.”

“Hold on…” He seemed to communicate with his master for a moment. “Okay. 623 years, three months and sixteen days.”

“Oh wow. Really? It...honestly didn’t feel that long. Damn, that means I’ll be turning 650 next year.” She laughed. “Guess I should celebrate that or something. How old are you, Evan?”

“22.”

“Goodness. Oh dear. You’re like, a baby.”

“I assure you, I’m an adult.”

“Hmm…”

He went quiet, but Amy could tell that he wanted to say something, so she waited and ate another fruit. So good. She should collect some more for later.

“Amy?”

“Yes?”

“What is it like, being immortal?”

Amy wondered if this question should bother her. But she just kind of felt nothing at all. “I...don’t think about it most of the time. Can’t Besa tell you that?”

“Oh, I asked them. But I didn’t understand the answer.”

“I see. Well, it’s...okay I guess? As I said before, there’s nothing wrong with my life. Beats dying, at least, I think...” She fell quiet, pondering, and secretly hoping Evan would change the topic. When he said nothing, she continued, her voice lowered. “It can get a little boring, though. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of stuff to do, to learn, to have fun. But there’s also not a lot of change. You crave new stuff but there aren’t many new things in this world. That’s why we wander around so much, I guess.” She drank the last bit of water from her bottle, and dipped it into the spring to refill it. Years of use and carrying it had smoothed and polished its wooden surface to a shine. 

“Maybe the fade is a good thing,” she continued. “But still, gives you a lot of time to think. Why am I alive? Am I alive? No matter how hard I look, I can’t find a purpose for myself. But maybe it’s just me. Others have it easier, I think.”

“Is a purpose that important?” Evan wondered.

She grinned. “Is it? Maybe not.” She looked at him, then around them. A weird feeling washed over her, and her face got serious again. “This world has gotten strange, hasn’t it.”

“Yes.”

“Mhm. It’s easy to forget that. So much time has passed. But it’s okay. I think I’ll manage. Even though I wander around so much.” She took a deep breath. “Because in the end, I always return home, to the others. To my family, my friends. And then I know, it’s okay. No matter what happens, we will always be there for each other. No matter how strange we and this world have become, we’re in this together.”

“I think I understand. I’m...also looking forward to return.”

She stretched and sighed. “Still, having a higher purpose and all that must be nice. Maybe I’m a little bit jealous.”

“I guess,” she could make out that he was smiling, “we all want what we can’t have. That’s only human, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It sure is.”

“Do you want to draw this place? I think it’s very pretty.”

“Oh right! Hold on.”

 

\----------

 

The next day they were crossing marshland dominated by pearlgrass. The silvery-green plants had more than three times the height of a person, their feathery tops swaying in the breeze. Passing this chaotic maze was tricky. Everything looked the same to the untrained eye and vision was extremely limited. Amy had learned many years ago to make out and follow the underground root patterns while keeping the direction of the sun in mind.

Once every minute or so, a low-pitched moan rolled over the plane. As they climbed over a hill, they got a better view at the source of the sorrowful sound.

“These aren’t krell?” asked Evan, sounding a little worried.

“The big crookbacks? No, totally harmless. Just don’t get under them or you might get stepped on.”

The Angel tried to get a view on the herd of the huge, long-legged creatures that were towering well over the pearlgrass they were grazing on. “But they are, uh, you know...”

“Bugs?”

“Insectoid. Yes. In fact, we had them classified as type three. Apparently that was a mistake.”

“How did you not realize that?”

“We can only observe from orbit.”

“I see.”

“Huh.” The Angel sounded uncharacteristically amused. “Now that I look at them, they kind of remind me of giraffes. You know, those thin legs and all. And that long...that’s the neck, right?”

“What’s a ‘giraffe’?” asked Amy.

“You don’t remember those? An animal of the Old World. Native to the tropical regions of Africa. I thought it is pretty well known.”

“Hmm. No...doesn’t ring a bell.” She felt like she should remember this word. But it was like she had heard it for the first time in her life, and that bothered her.

 

\----------

 

They met krell twice this day. First came a pair of redclaws, who stalked them for a while through the forest before striking. 

The perfectly silent hunters were hard to perceive even for Amy. Their carapace would fluidly change its color to match their environment, making them appear almost transparent. At a distance, they were nearly invisible, even for the sharp eyes of an Heir.

Evan, despite whatever technology he was using, failed to even notice them at all before she warned him. After a while, it looked like they had given up on the chase. It was then when Amy made the mistake of dropping her guard. 

She had gone ahead a bit to check an old, creaky bridge someone had built over a chasm. That’s when the hunters saw their chance to strike. Without any forewarning, they sprung out of hiding, trying to get to the Angel from two sides at once. 

He reacted immediately and killed them both, with one shot each.

Later, it was a swarm of firedrakes, winged krell no more than half the size of a person. They had been resting concealed in the top of a huge skyscraper tree. These trees were rare this far up north, but they still grew to enormous sizes, reaching well above the regular forest canopy. 

Amy hadn’t noticed the krell and once again left the Angel behind to scout a difficult area ahead of them.

When they swooped down, their angry screeches must’ve been loud enough to be audible for miles. Amy had only once seen how they made their fire, by spitting a very sticky liquid that ignited once it came in contact with air. Together, the entire swarm unleashed a firestorm that rained down on where she had left the Angel. 

Amy had always found the firedrakes fascinating. Their bodies were of an unremarkable brown-grey, but their wings, once unfolded, were shining in blue, metallic patterns that were unique for each individual. Now she saw them dying one by one while running back as fast as she could. 

Every single stopper shot found its target, with both admirable and terrifying precision. After the Angel had killed them all, he emerged from the inferno the krell had created, covered in his black, crystalline substance.

“Evan! Are you okay?”

“I’m unharmed. This fire is not enough to damage the shard membrane.” He made it disappear. It slid over his skin and clothing like thick oil, leaving no trace behind as it vanished under the clothing on his back.

“I’m sorry. It seems they like to attack when I leave you alone, but I need to check ahead to make sure we’re safe, too…”

“Don’t blame yourself. You have done an excellent job so far to keep us away from their major swarms, as well as other people. The rest, we can handle.”

“Still, I just wish I could prevent all this fighting…” she mumbled in a grumpy tone while crossing her arms and looking to the side. Then she sighed. “Shard membrane, huh? Is that what this black stuff is called?”

“Yes.”

“How does it work?”

“It’s complicated. Intelligent matter that can adapt, depending on the situation. It’s triggered by an implanted reflex in response to danger. I protects me from all kinds of harm.”

Amy tilted her head, trying to understand what he just said. “So...is it like a part of your body?”

“Like all my augmentations, yes. They were installed during my early development, so my body could properly grow into them.”

Amy took a moment to realize the gravity of what he just said. “They do this to you while you’re children?”

“That’s how we are made.”

Her face dropped. “Tell me it didn’t hurt or something like that.”

“No. As I said, I’ve been in high reality during the whole process.”

Amy tried imagining this, but had trouble forming a picture. This sounded all too bizarre. “So you just...woke up from your dreams one day, seeing the final result?”

“Yes.”

“Wasn’t that...really weird?”

“We’re getting properly prepared for this.”

“Okay…” She turned to continue walking, trying to process this. She remembered HR-dreams being a very private matter, and asking strangers about the details was considered rude. She only vaguely recalled a few of her own. Of course, they didn’t exist in the New World anymore, and so they seemed incredibly surreal and faint now. Almost like the fading memories of real dreams. 

“I remember there were people back then who spent years and years in their dreams without taking breaks,” she began while walking. ”I always felt like I should see the real world with my own eyes from time to time.”

He didn’t respond to that. “What about the fire?” he asked instead, sounding a little worried. “Won’t it spread?”

“Look closely,” she advised without even turning back. “It’s already dying. Fire never lasts long in this world. Dried grass and wood, maybe. But the living plants always refuse to burn.”

“I see.”

 

\----------

 

“Not this time.” She reached for his arm, but he pulled it away as if he was scared. 

“I’m sorry. The nanobodies are depleting faster than anticipated,” he explained in response to her surprise. “I’m afraid we have to keep contact to a minimum.”

Amy knew that even touching an Heir, like herself, was a risk for Humans like him. But getting reminded like that still wasn’t the best feeling.

“Okay, I get it. But as I said-”

“I need this to stay awake.” He looked at her, making no move to put away his injector. “You know this.”

She took a step backwards, away from him, while putting her hands behind her back. She managed a tiny smile. “Yes. That’s why I brought us to a place where you can sleep tonight. We’re almost there.”

 

The forest was dense with low, but thick and gnarly trees. Heavy fungal growth crept over everything. It looked like it was suffocating the regular plants, turning the forest into another fungus area, but that was an illusion. Amy knew that the two types actually coexisted in a complex, poorly understood symbiosis. 

One particularly notable thing here was the skinmoss. A weird, fleshy growth that covered the ground and climbed up trees, even hanging in tattered flaps from branches. It was notorious for producing sticky, red sap when cut. People had initially been disturbed, due to its resemblance to blood. Then they discovered that it actually tasted surprisingly sweet and fruity, and it made a great wine. However, some still insisted they could make out a faint metallic flavour. 

As far as Amy knew, there was no real pattern to why skinmoss grew in some areas and not in others. Many small animals were attracted to it, but no known type of krell was interested in eating it.

 

They came to a small stream. It’s course was unusually straight, and it had cut its bed deep into the ground, forming a channel. Usually, Amy would’ve just climbed down and back up on the other side. But with Evan, she looked around to see if there was an easier way. Not far, she spotted a large tree that had fallen over the creek, forming a natural bridge.

“This lines up with one of the vacuum tubes,” said the Angel suddenly while they walked along the creek.

Amy turned around. “Huh?”

“The vacuum tube network was part of the infrastructure of the Old World, if you remember.”

She shook her head. 

“It was used to transport physical goods at high speeds. We have access to old map data, even though it’s basically useless now. Nothing looks like it used to. But we know that one of the tubes was exactly here.”

Amy looked down to the tiny stream, scratching her head. “You’re still looking for traces of the Old World, huh?”

Evan gave a tiny shrug. “Yes. Everything was changed so drastically. Everything is gone. Except for some tiny traces like this one. Apparently this tube here was deep enough to not be affected.”

“You mean...it wasn’t dissolved? And then later it collapsed? And that’s why this stream is here?”

“Exactly.”

“Interesting. Hmm, I guess that happened in some places. I’ve heard about underground Old World ruins, but they are rarely found. Although some people still try to look for them. Wow. I had no idea this was here.” She scanned the stream, now with extra care, but couldn’t see anything unusual. “You think there might be old artifacts buried down there?”

“What do you hope to find? It was quite literally just an empty tube.”

“Ah...good point.”

 

In the forest not far from the stream was a clearing with a single, large grudgekeeper tree. Due to lightning strikes or perhaps a storm, it’s upper half had broken off long ago, but the rest of the trunk had grown new branches. Despite the obvious damage, the tree was still going strong. 

Grudgekeepers were like that. Unlike most other plantlife, they never really healed their damage, only grew around it, while always refusing to die. And so, many were eventually covered in marks and scars, keeping a grim reminder of every time they were hurt.

 

The trunks of young trees, split in half and with the flat side upwards, had been driven into the large tree, forming a simple, spiraling set of stairs. They led to a small, round hut that was attached to the tree, resting on one of the large branches. A thin trail of smoke came from it.

Flowering vines climbed up the trunk to the hut, covering most of it. The clearing was quiet. Its ground was mostly covered in grass, lichen and wildflowers, but a one area near the tree had been worked and was now growing fire nuts and other, particularly tasty plants and fungi.

 

“Heeeey,” shouted Amy, to make their presence known.

“Who’s living here?” asked Evan.

“A friend. Come, stay behind me.”

 

The inside was small, but comfy. It had a bed, a small, well secured fireplace, closets for personal belongings and some other things, a plexus knot, even a small shelf with a humble collection of Old World artifacts. And of course, a large, heavy book, bound in the brown, leather-like material that could be made from the caps of certain large mushrooms. 

A handwritten copy of the Guide. 

The most prominent feature however, was the working area. Materials and tools for sewing and stitching were scattered everywhere, and finished clothes with highly detailed embroidery were hung on racks or stacked in corners.

The inhabitant was an Heir woman with black, wavy hair. By the standards of Old World Humans she looked the same young age as Amy, but that was of course deceiving. She was wearing one of her works herself, a dark-blue dress with floral patterns finely stitched in silvery thread. She was greeting them with a big smile.

“Amy! That’s a surprise. I didn’t expect you to be back so soon.”

“Aw, come on, Elena! It was just half a year.”

“Who’s your frie-” She froze when she saw Evan come through the door, staring at him. The smile was gone, replaced with open surprise. It was in her eye color, too. Amy had never seen such an intense orange in somebody’s irises.

He merely looked back, standing quietly. Apparently he waited to allow Elena to process the unexpected sight.

“Uhm,” started Amy, “Elena, this is-” She fell quiet when the other woman made a sharp movement with her hand.

After a moment, Elena took a deep breath. “This isn’t some kind of prank, isn’t it.”

“No,” answered Amy, “I saw him come down with some kind of capsule myself. We’re now on the way to Orchid.”

“After all these years…” Elena sounded like she was lost in thought. She didn’t take her eyes off the Angel. Her irises had shifted to sea green, showing that she had overcome the shock. “I didn’t expect to see one of you ever again, to be honest.” 

“Greetings. I am Operator Alpha-8E1, currently in service of the Exalted Besa.”

“Besa?” She pondered. “Special tasks, wasn’t it? That makes sense, I guess.”

“You’re a member of the Church?” asked the Angel. He must have noticed the pendant with the Exalted symbol Elena was wearing around her neck. 

It was made of metal, not by hand, but stamped with a machine. During her last visit, Elena had told Amy that she had gotten it during one of her trips to Orchid. Her original symbol was gone after she woke up after the great change. Just like all objects made of metal, it had vanished at that time.

Elena placed her right hand on her chest, stretched her left arm to the side and took a slow, respectful bow. “Elena Paredes, at your service.”

“Oh right, that was what you were supposed to do...I totally forgot,” mumbled Amy.

Elena ignored her, too focussed on the Angel. “Member of the Church, yes. Or rather, what little is left of it.” She shot a glance at the plexus knot. ”I’m in contact with others. Anything I should tell them? Some...official message from above? Some explanation on what’s going on?”

“No. We’re just passing through.”

Elena took a deep, sharp breath, crossed her arms and looked to the side, thinking for a moment. 

When she continued, she had a hint of bitterness in her eyes and voice. “As a child, I was taught to revere the Exalted. And so I did. I went on to serve the Church for more than two hundred years. Then, one day, I wake up like...this. With the  _ world _ like this. My body hasn’t changed one bit ever since. But I have been waiting.  _ We _ have been waiting. Waiting for six centuries, for something, anything. And after all this time, you finally show up. And all I get is a ‘no’.”

“We are sorry. But we cannot reveal any specific information at this moment. This is not an official mission to contact the Church.” The Angel hesitated for a moment, seemingly thinking. “But we appreciate your faith in us.”

Elena chuckled and shook her head. “Yeah...yeah. Man. Somehow I forgot how secretive and annoying to deal with you damn Angels can be. It’s...weirdly nice to see at least  _ that _ hasn’t changed. So!” She straightened herself, clapped her hands and changed to a firm voice. “Why are you here, then? How can I help you?”

“Right!” Amy considered this to be her cue. “We need a safe place to sleep for the night. The krell have been attacking him, because...you know, he’s an Oldworlder and all that. You told me about how you hate the krell, and how you have methods to make them leave you alone.”

“You bet I hate those freakish things! I refuse to ever get used to them. Still can’t believe you have one as a  _ pet _ , Amy.”

“Hehe…” Amy scratched the back of her head. “I still think you should maybe give them a chance.”

“Never!”

“Maybe you just need a bit more time…”

“Stop it.” Elena began to sound annoyed.

“Okay, fine! So anyway, you think you can do something?”

“Hmm…” the older woman pondered. “Yes. Blood pine resin, tar morel and witch fern works best I found. They really don’t like how the stuff smells when you burn it. It won’t keep them away forever, of course. Nothing keeps them away forever. Just ask the Orchidians. But for a night it should be enough.”

“Is that what I’m smelling?” asked the Angel.

“What?” Elena seemed confused, then she looked towards the fireplace. “Oh. No, I’m just baking some fish. Want some?”

“Thanks. But I’m afraid I have to pass.”

“It’s bad for him,” whispered Amy, shielding her mouth in a vain attempt to sneak the words past Evan.

Light orange appeared in Elena’s eyes for a second, but then she nodded. “Right. Sorry, I must’ve forgotten this for a moment.”

“No problem.”

“Well then...it’s not much, but make yourself at home,” she made an inviting gesture. “I’ll go and make the preparations. Amy, would you be so kind to help me?”

“Sure!”

 

Elena had already started burning the herbs she still had ready, while Amy went into the forest to collect more. Evan apparently had took on the offer immediately. He was already asleep, or something similar. All he had done was sit down on the ground in some kind of meditative position and stopped moving. 

 

After they were done, the two Heirs sat in Elena’s little garden, eating fruits and observing the gathering clouds in the fading daylight. Several bowls with the incense had been placed around the tree with the house. No wind was disturbing the raising smoke, and the sharp smell was overpowering. They would have to take turns during the night to make sure the fires kept burning.

“Sorry,” said Amy, breaking the silence. “I brought him here, hoping he would talk to you. Since, you know. You’re still official, right?”

“I guess. But don’t apologize. That’s just how the Exalted work. They share information with us only when they feel like it. Otherwise, they don’t see it as important to keep us informed.” She looked up to her hut and lowered her voice a bit. “They always loved us Humans. But they also never saw us as equals.”

“To be honest, I was a little surprised to learn they’re actually still around. I thought...actually, I don’t know what I thought. That they were gone or something.”

“They had some very loose contact with the people of Orchid for a while. But the Orchidians, uh, grew a little frustrated, since the Exalted never actually helped them. When you reach that place with him you should be careful.”

“Of course. Thanks.” Amy ate one of Elena’s fire nuts and grimaced, trying her best not to cough.

Elena showed a wide grin. “What, too spicy?”

“No!” Amy assured, discretely wiping away a tear. “I mean, they are, uh-”

“Pretty good, eh?”

“Mhm.” She took another one, bracing herself for more burning pain. “Say...you said Besa was ‘special tasks’. What does that mean?”

Elena took one of the nuts herself and ate it without batting an eye. “Ministry for Special Tasks.”

“Uh...what?”

“It’s old Church knowledge. You know, in the Blind Age, when Humans were on their own, they had to organize themselves. For that they created things like ‘corporations’ and ‘governments’. Besa was originally intended to replace a part of one of those governments, a so-called ‘ministry’. At least, that’s how the story goes.”

“Right, I think I remember something like that. How did that thing work, though? Was it originally controlled by a Human?”

“Yes. Or a group, maybe.”

“And they had power over the lives of other people?”

“That was the point of those things.”

Amy looked away, staring into the distance. She found herself lost in thought, trying to remember the few stories about the Blind Age she remembered. 

 

An age where Humanity had been all alone and without guidance. The Humans had been cruel towards each other, themselves and the planet they lived on. In the end, their sins finally caught up with them, and they faced a great disaster. All would have been hopeless, if they hadn’t created the Exalted. It was just in time. The new Gods took matters into their own hands, saved Humanity and eventually created a paradise for everyone. At least that’s how the story went. Amy had often heard it as a child.

Of course, that technological paradise had disappeared when the great change came. Although in a way, it had been replaced by a new one. 

 

“Humans controlling other Humans,” mumbled Amy. ”So weird.”

“It was a long time ago. More than three thousand years.”

“Damn. Besa really is that old, huh.”

“Watch out, we’ll be that old too, one day. What did they say was their mission again?”

“Surveillance. Taking samples and stuff.”

“That’s what they said, huh.”

Amy looked over to her, surprised. “You think it’s not true?”

“Who knows.” Elena shrugged. “Might as well be. Maybe it’s actually a good sign. Maybe they’re finally trying to find a solution to all this.”

“You still want to go back to the way things used to be?”

Elena fell silent and thought for a long time before answering. “Funny. I’m not sure anymore. I always thought I did. I mean, you only lived in the Old World for a few years. For me, it was 241. 241 years...you don’t live that long in a specific way and then just ‘get over it’ when it’s all gone.”

Amy took a deep breath, trying to remember her last two hundred years. “I understand. I mean, you’re not the only person I met who had trouble adjusting. It’s hard for some people, especially the elders. More than two centuries...I heard that is actually a really long time for an Oldworlder.”

“It was normal back then. They...the Exalted gave us these treatments. They took care of us in every way, wanted us to live as long and happy as possible. Even I had about a hundred more years ahead of me. The ‘elixir’, they called it. In Orchid they don’t have it anymore, and they’re in trouble now. They live little more than a hundred years now.”

“Wow. That’s nothing.”

“Still good compared to the Blind Age. But yes. The Exalted gave it to us freely. But they never taught us how to make it.”

“Damn. Now I feel sorry for them.”

“Just wait until you actually see what it’s like there. It’s...not pretty.”

“Oh.” Amy wasn’t sure what else to say to this. 

For a while, the two just sat there in silence, listening to the sounds of the forest. Daylight creatures were going to sleep, nighttime critters coming out. Somewhere in the distance, a large krell screeched. After a few seconds, another one answered. Amy estimated that they were too far away to be a problem. Hopefully.

Amy carefully ate the fire nuts, taking a break after each one, blinking away tears. She still had a hard time enjoying the burning taste. Elena just ate them like candy.

“Why do you think it happened?” wondered Amy eventually. “The change, I mean. It wasn’t the Exalted who did this, right?”

Elena sighed. “Nobody knows. Some people claim they know the reason, but it’s all speculation. That’s the truth. The Exalted...they might’ve been able to pull this off, so it seems logical at first glance. They had the power, all this crazy technology. But I personally can’t believe it.”

“Why that?” She flopped back into a lying position, putting her left hand behind her head.

The older Heir also changed her position to make herself more comfortable. “I don’t know how much you remember, but, you see...they liked us the way we were. In fact they were somewhat obsessed with keeping us as ‘Human’ as possible. Many people suspected they could’ve made us immortal even back then. But the Exalted believed mortality was an important part of Human nature, and so all they did was allowing us to live longer. But now?” Elena stared at her hand, stretching out the fingers, observing the black lines. “I mean look at us. The Exalted I knew would’ve never changed us into something like... _ this _ . It just makes no sense.”

“I see…”

“Something else must’ve happened. But I just...we don’t know.”

“Some say it was Human scientists who did this. Some secret experiment that went out of control.”

“Oh please.” Elena laughed. “The Exalted would’ve noticed and stopped it. They always knew everything. Oh! Have you heard the one where it was supposedly an alien terraforming project?”

Amy now laughed as well. “What? Oh that one is good. Now I almost hope it’s true. Can’t wait to meet those aliens.”

“Bah,” grumbled Elena dismissively, shaking her head. “Just another dumb theory.”

They both sat in silence again. The smell of the incense became so intense that Amy reverted her breathing cycle. Her secondary nostrils were much less sensitive.

Elena spoke up again. “It’s weird,” there was a hint of pain or maybe regret in her voice. ”All this time I waited, hoping for a sign. A sign that they would come back and...I don’t know, fix everything? They were  _ always _ there to fix everything. But now that they’re actually here, it’s just so…”

“...underwhelming?”

Elena let out a joyless chuckle. “I guess that too. But what I meant is, it’s all so, what’s the word, present? Real? It’s no longer some distant wish anymore. They’re here, in front of me. And here I am, thinking. About how they  _ might _ now actually make things the way they used to be. About whether that is still what I want.”

Amy sat up and looked when Elena’s voice started trembling and spotted a tear. Her eyes had shifted to a dark blue. 

“And I, and I have to admit to myself...actually, I don’t want things to go back. I miss...a lot of things, yes. Of course. The dreams. I always wanted my dreams back. But, maybe this is okay after all. Maybe…”

“Hey, it’s alright,” said Amy, as she hugged Elena, who had started sobbing.

 

After she had calmed down, Elena put her arms around her knees, looking up into the sky. “Amy...last time you told me I should go and join one of the groups. Go wandering instead of making myself suffer by staying in one place all the time. I thought that was ridiculous.”

“Changed your mind?”

“Not sure. But yeah, maybe I should give it a try. Perhaps I can finally accept that this is the way things are now. Perhaps having some kind of family again would be nice.”

“Perhaps find some love?” Amy grinned.

“Ah, pfft!” Elena tried to scoff but smiled anyway.

“Didn’t you have family? Where are they?”

“No idea. We weren’t close even back then. The Church was my family, more or less.” She thought for a moment. “My brother went to Australia...I haven’t seen him in person for seven centuries. Would it even be possible to find him now…”

“You could always join our group if you want. I’m sure the others will love the clothing you’re making.”

“Oh that’s...I’m just doing that to keep myself busy.”

“Mhm. And after all this time you got pretty damn good at it.”

Elena chuckled. “Yeah. Maybe. I’ll consider it. Oh and...thank you, Amy.”

“Thanks for what?”

Elena looked up at her tree hut. “For bringing them here. I think...that shock might’ve been just what I needed. Gave me a little push.” She turned her head to look at Amy. “You think that’s weird?”

Amy just shrugged and then grinned. “Dunno. It’s certainly not the weirdest thing that has happened lately.”

“Heh. Yeah, for sure.”

 

\----------

 

The smoke worked, and the night remained quiet. Evan insisted on leaving at dawn, so they said their goodbyes and went back on their journey.

 

The attacks continued and only got worse. The krell became increasingly bold and aggressive, and they began to adapt. Of course, they never endangered Amy. Instead they always went straight for the Angel. Amy never left his side anymore, but they took this into account as well.

The attackers kept trying to separate the two, and they never attempted the same approach twice. Amy had heard about this behaviour, but this was the first time she saw it herself. 

All krell were connected in an invisible way, and they learned. No one so far had been able to figure out how exactly they did it. But every attacker had the memories of the ones that came before it. And so they changed their strategy all the time.

A massive lion centipede waited in ambush below ground, caught Evan’s legs and pulled him downwards. Windcatchers, hiding in dense brushwork, released spore clouds while trying to stay out of sight. Razorjaws attacked from underwater while they crossed a swamp. More crawlers came, this time an entire colony at once. 

Evan killed them all. But they got closer every time. As much as he tried to hide it under his mask and his stoic behavior, Amy could feel that he was getting scared.

 

Eventually, a creature appeared Amy had never seen before. It walked on four of its legs, but kept them so close together it made it look almost bipedal. Its size, overall shape and the way it kept its upper limbs made it look like a bizarre mockery of a Human figure. It had the ability to camouflage itself just like a redclaw, and had been standing perfectly still and invisible, waiting for them. When they approached, it dropped its concealment, as if it wanted to deliberately show itself. It even presented its second, lower pair of ‘arms’, both ending in scythe-like claws. They looked like shimmering blades, glistening with something wet. Evan reacted immediately, but even though the Angel had demonstrated sharp reflexes before, he was too slow this time.

The strange krell moved in ways that didn’t seem quite possible, not coming in a straight line but shooting left and right at absurd speeds. Evan had barely raised his weapon before the attacker reached him, attempting to slash him with multiple, rapid strikes. Fortunately, his shard membrane held. The attack was over in a blink and the krell vanished back into the dense forest as fast as it had come.

Evan had barely time to catch his breath before it came at him again, this time from behind. Violently it thrashed against his strange, black armor before stopping and disappearing once more. Evan kept turning around, trying to get a proper angle at the attacker, but it seemed impossible. Again and again it came at him from the back or the side, landing a flurry of strikes, then vanishing like a ghost.

When Amy saw pieces and splinters break off from the membrane, she realized this was serious and decided she had to do something. Unsure of what else to do, she ran close to him, trying using her body as a shield to cover at least one side. The krell wouldn’t dare hurt her, she was fully confident of that. 

It obstructed the krell just enough. Finally, the Angel managed to get a shot in, while the creature was already retreating again. The thunderclap resounded through the forest, and as usual, the creature dropped dead immediately.

Amy collapsed to the ground as well, overwhelmed with nausea. She had helped to kill. Now she had to endure the consequences.

 

“I don’t know what that was,” she mumbled after she had managed to recover, sitting on the ground. “I have never seen this kind before.”

“If I had to guess,” replied the Angel, trying hard to sound professional, “I’d say it was more of a high-tier unit. Something they bring out for special occasions.”

“Why do they hate you so much?” Amy’s voice betrayed how close to tears she was.

“I’m not from this world. They cannot tolerate me.”

Amy sighed and then nodded weakly. “Yes. They think you’re a threat to me or something.”

“Didn’t you think so, too?” His voice was now kind, almost a little teasing.

It managed to bring out a small smile in her. “Yes, but only for like a second. I wish we could make them understand. Understand the way I do. But their thoughts are just so different. They are always friendly to us. They even somewhat listen to us. Until they get angry. Then they do whatever they want, and we can’t stop them.” 

Amy got up and turned around when she sensed movement. When she saw the two Heirs coming through the trees she cursed herself. She had been too distracted to notice their approach.

A man and a woman. They were both dressed in finely-made, decorated traveling clothes, kept their hair in a proper style and overall seemed to care about their appearance. The deep purple shimmer in their eyes told Amy that they were madly in love, although they were now sparkling with excitement as well.

“See, I told you something crazy has happened!” said the man excitedly when he saw the scene.

“Ooooh my gosh!” cheered his partner, putting her hands on her cheeks, when she spotted Evan. She came over immediately to take a closer look at, as it turned out, his coat.

“This fabric, what is that? Where did you get that? I mean, black isn’t exactly my color but...oh, and that style, that’s  _ so _ old-school! Wait, is that even a natural fiber?” 

In her excitement, she didn’t stop to wait for Evan to answer any of her questions. Not like he looked interested in answering, anyway. 

“Did they make that in Orchid? And that mask, what material is  _ that _ ? Ooooh wow, can I-”

He took a step back and raised his hands in an appeasing gesture when she tried to touch him.

Her partner, meanwhile, seemed more interested in the dead krell on the ground and came over to take a close look. “What on Earth is that? Looks freshly killed, but...”

“Not entirely sure, either,” answered Amy. “Some kind of krell it seems. You should have seen it move.”

“So it just died? What killed it?”

Amy just pointed at Evan.

He chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, right. There’s not even any wounds. Come on, you just got super lucky and saw it die on its own.”

“Nope. He’s an Oldworlder with a stopper. A weird weapon. It kills without a trace, somehow.” They hadn’t recognized him as an Angel, and she wasn’t in the mood for detailed explanations. So she left it at that.

He fell quiet, and so did his partner. Her face had dropped, and her eyes nervously went back and forth between Even and the corpse. They now had a distinct brown shade, as she started backing off from him.

“Oldworlder? So he’s from Orchid? Without a suit and all that stuff?” she asked, voice now filled with fear as well. “He has a gun? He can use violence? Oh gods, please...”

“There is no need to be afraid,” said the Angel in his usual, calm voice. “I can’t hurt you even if I wanted to.”

“Yeah, right.” She didn’t sound convinced. “I’ve seen what you people can do. Stay the hell away.” She tried to sound brave, but had also successfully retreated to her partner’s side, partially hiding behind him. He seemed a little calmer, but also unsure how to react.

“It’s alright,” confirmed Amy. “I’ve been with him for days, he’s harmless. We just had to kill this thing in self-defense.”

“So it’s true…” said the male Heir, shooting another glance at the corpse.

“Did you just say ‘we’?” asked his partner. “Don’t tell me you...oooh. That’s why it’s smelling like someone puked.”

Amy gave an exaggerated shrug, realizing too late that they could read the embarrassment in her eyes anyway. Weird, she thought. She had gotten used to being able to hide her feelings awfully quickly. Evan couldn’t read eye colors. Or at least pretended not to.

“So, uh,” she started, scratching the back of her head. “It probably doesn’t surprise you that we’re trying to get to Orchid.” She pointed in the direction where she knew the old fortress must be.

“We’ve been there,” stated the male Heir. “Ugly place.”

“What is it like?” asked Amy.

“Looks like an open wound in the Earth that never heals.” The woman’s voice carried a hint of contempt. “No wonder the warriors keep attacking it.”

“Warriors? You mean the krell?” inquired Evan.

“Whatever you want to call them.”

“You know anything interesting about the area?” asked Amy. “We’re trying to avoid both krell and people as much as possible.”

“Well, you’re doing a great job with that,” said the woman with a playfully mocking voice. At least she had finally calmed down again.

Her partner thought for a moment before giving a more serious answer. “Those won’t be a problem, I think. Not many in this area from what we can tell. Although, maybe you should know that if you keep going that way, you’re going to run straight into a ghost bee hive.”

“Oh that’s brilliant,” groaned Amy, her shoulders dropping. “I guess that’s  _ another _ detour, then.”

 

“What are ghost bees?” asked Evan, after they had said their goodbyes to the couple and went back on their way. “Another type of krell?”

Amy shook her head. “No, I’m pretty sure they’re just regular insects.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

She looked over to him. “There were bees in the Old World? I’m not sure if I remember correctly.”

“Yes.”

“Right. Have you seen the big flowers everywhere? What do you think is pollinating them?”

“The ghost bees?”

“Actually, it’s many things, but yes, the ghost bees are one of them. They’re about this big,” she held her hands to show a size only slightly smaller than a Human head, “really fuzzy and they live in hives as high as the forest canopy. Easy to see, they look a bit like melted pyramids, dominating the entire area. Anyway, they’re actually peaceful, until you do something that makes them angry. Then they swarm and come after you. Their stings never kill, but they’ll make you wish they did. Actually,” she thought for a tiny moment, “in your case, who knows.”

“Sounds like you’ve been stung before.”

“Yes. And I’ve seen the swarms. I may not know how your gun works and all that. But I really don’t think it’s enough to fight one of them.”

“I see.” He looked at her for a moment. “Yes. Let’s not risk it,” he then said, usual calm voice.

“Right.” She straightened her clothing and looked into the distance. “Let’s hope this will be the last detour. Soon we will reach Orchid. The people who live there know how to survive in this world, so you should be safe. From the krell, at least. And the bees.”


	3. The Gate

It was hard to overstate how big Orchid was. The main structure consisted of six immense ‘towers’, built out of a strange, dark grey material, one very big one in the middle, surrounded by a rough circle of two smaller and three even smaller ones. They were arranged in a specific pattern that supposedly had something to do with the name. Despite the difference in size, they all had the exact same shape and proportions - broad, upright standing cylinders with flat tops. They were gradually broadening at the base, as if they needed the extra stability, as if there was something in this world that could topple these titans over. 

Amy couldn’t help but think it made them look a bit like tree stumps. She remembered that the tops were covered in snow all year round, but it was overcast when they came in view and even the three smallest ones disappeared up into the clouds.

One of the three small ones looked a little different from the rest, its surface a bit less smooth and even. Amy could see thin trails of smoke or steam coming out of it in several places. Tower 5, she recalled. The only one that was inhabited.

More steam and smoke came from the city nestled between the towers. It was made of regular-sized buildings in the style of the Old World, and in some parts it was trying to climb up the slopes. It looked as if the builders had run out of space on the ground, and were now building up as far as they could get. Compared to the towers the buildings looked tiny in comparison, insignificant and fragile. 

Like moss on a tree stump.

Surrounding the towers was a broad belt of green, brown and other natural colors, even some blue spots. The famous Garden of Orchid. The last piece of the Old World left on Earth. And, surrounding that, fortress walls. They looked small and thin at this distance, because everything looked small next to these towers, but Amy could tell that they must be massive up close. The Orchidians clearly had them expanded since her last visit.

Looking closer, it seemed like there had been a battle recently. Amy could see a section of the wall that had been heavily damaged, and the Garden area behind it looked as if it had been torn up badly. There seemed to be smoke and activity, apparently they were trying to fix it.

 

They approached through the dead zone that surrounded the outer walls for miles, an area that the Orchidians kept clear of large vegetation, although smaller plants and fungi were trying to reconquer the zone here and there. The area bore the scars of centuries of fighting. Craters, burn marks, pieces of krell carapace, even some ruins that showed past attempts by the Orchidians to expand their territory. Apparently they had given up on that one. Now, not much was challenging the chilly wind that swept across this plain. Amy was a bit jealous of Evan’s coat, but she also realized that he needed it much more than she.

There were no wrecks or even scraps of metal to be seen anywhere. 

 

When they came past a ruin Amy couldn’t help to take a closer look. Peering through what used to be a window, she gasped as she spotted something.

“What is it?”

“Evan, look!”

The sun broke through the clouds that very moment. Amy entered the roofless ruin to take a closer look at the tiny, white Old World flower, growing huddled within some old debris. There was no other plant life close to it, although New World lichen, weeds and fungus had started to reclaim the ruin in other places.

“Interesting. Its seed must’ve escaped from the Garden. I wonder how it stays alive out here?”

Amy sat down in front of the flower and, without taking her eyes off it, took out her paper and started sketching.

Evan watched her silently for a minute, before taking a closer look himself. “It looks sick, though.”

“Please don’t damage it.”

“I don’t intend to.”

 

Even after she was finished, she kept staring at it for a while in silence, trying to remember if she had ever seen one of this kind, maybe even knew its name. But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t remember anything.

 

The wind whistled faintly through the broken walls as they left.

 

\----------

 

The knights must’ve noticed them long before they had reached the closest gate. The last mile or so they even walked on an actual road made of stone. Two of them had come out and awaited them. They were wearing fully sealed, armored suits with closed helmets obscuring their faces. The armor was white and looked new, and the sensors on their otherwise smooth helmets made them look like they each had multiple eyes. They spoke through the speaker systems integrated into those helmets.

“Hold it!”

In their hands they carried large, bulky guns, apparently some kind of energy weapon. They were connected with strong cables to the heavy packs on their backs. Amy noticed the swords they carried on their sides and wondered what their purpose was.

“Look at that clown,” said one of the two to his partner, clearly referring to Evan. “Hey, nice costume! And that mask, good work, looks almost real! I knew you people are good at craftsmanship, but that’s impressive, I gotta say. Just like in those old recordings!”

“This is not a costume.” Evan said in his typical, calm voice. “I am Operator Alpha-8E1, currently in service of the Exalted Besa. We are requesting entrance.”

The Knight who talked before started laughing, while his quiet partner raised a hand to his helmet, looking a bit to the side. Amy could hear his muffled voice, but it was hard to make out any words, since he had turned off his helmet speaker.

“Yeah, right, right! I’m sorry, Mr. Operator!”

“You...don’t seem to believe me.”

“Are you one of those Old World worshippers? I’m an Oldworlder myself, I can give you an autograph if you want. But we’re not going to let you inside, sorry buddy.”

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, before Evan slowly raised his hand and took his mask off to reveal his face. Both knights gasped audibly and took a step backwards.

“What the fuck, that’s not an Heir!”

“Holy shit! He’s real! He’s fucking real! Dude, call the Admins, now!”

“On it!” The knight hurried through a door in the large gate, leaving Amy and Evan alone with his partner.

Evan calmly put the mask back on, shuddering for a second as it snapped back into place. “Will you let us in, now?”

The remaining knight stared for a moment, before gripping his weapon tighter. “What do you want? Wait. Don’t...don’t tell me we’re finally getting evacuated. Are we getting evacuated?”

“I’m afraid not. We need access to a research facility.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck off.”

“We have supervisor-level clearance. You cannot deny us entrance.”

“No?” He did something with his weapon. Blue lights went on, and Amy could hear a high-pitched, hissing noise coming from it. Evan didn’t move.

“Hey, hey, Mr. Knight,” Amy stepped forward with raised hands and did her best to sound calming, “this really isn’t necessary-”

“Shut up, freak.”

“Freak? My name is Amy,” she blurted out in response, taking a second too long to realize he had insulted her. 

“Whatever.”

“What is the problem?” Evan still hadn’t moved.

“What is the problem, he asks. Heh.” The knight made a dismissing sound, while looking to the side for a second. “How about...have you seen the damage in the wall from the attack two days ago?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Because my sister was there, and now she’s dead. How is that for a problem.”

“We...are truly sorry for your loss. But-”

“But  _ what _ ? Hey, Besa, right? I know you can hear me through this guy. What the hell is wrong with you? You and your stupid friends, you really left us all to die down here? Is this some kind of experiment for you? Is it fun, watching us all suffer?”

Evan didn’t answer immediately but seemed to think, or maybe commune, for a moment. “No,” he then said in a flat voice. That was all.

“No? And despite that, all those years, you...Exalted” his voice filled with scorn, “did nothing to help us? And now you just show up and want access to a _research facility_?” He talked himself into a rage. “Are you kidding me? How about you use your oh-so-great ‘supervisor-level clearance’ or whatever the fuck that was, and get us some spaceships down here?”

“This is not possible at the moment.”

“Oh, really. Not possible.”

“We can’t reveal any more information. Please cooperate and stand aside.”

“Then lift the goddamn quarantine.” He tried to sound calmer now but the amount of seething anger in this man’s voice scared Amy, who was still speechless.

“That isn’t up to us to decide.”

“Let us off this damn planet!”

“We can’t do that, it’s not-”

The knight raised his weapon and aimed in Evan’s direction, who lifted his arms to show his empty hands. Amy noticed a small device on his right arm had begun give off a light blue glow. That was the first time she saw it doing that.

The knight must’ve noticed it, too. “Turn that thing off! I’m not gonna fall for your mind control bullshit!”

“We are not trying to mind control you. We are merely-”

“TURN IT OFF!!!”

Evan obeyed and, with a demonstratively slow and calm movement, switched the device off.

“Try something like that again and I swear I’ll incinerate you.”

“Don’t. Killing me would be a huge mistake, and you know that.”

The knight laughed without having any joy in his voice. “Maybe I don’t care! Why should I? You and your master don’t, either!”

“You are...directly interfering with…” Amy could hear fear in his voice.

“Your sister.” She spoke up in a low tone while slowly walking forward, “What was her name?”

Both turned their heads to look at her. The knight was silent for a moment, and Evan fell quiet as well.

“She...her name was Beth.”

“What was she like?”

“She was...the last person in the world to deserve this. And now her kids...wait. Why am I even telling you this? Why do  _ you _ care, anyway? Death and pain don’t exist in your world. Why don’t you just go back to your- hey, stop!”

With two, three quick steps, Amy positioned herself in front of Evan. “Oh, don’t worry, if you hit me with that thing I’m probably still dead. And believe me, I know more about the pain of losing loved ones than you think.” 

The knight shifted his weight and breathed out heavily, slightly lowering the weapon. “These...things tore her to pieces. And all because-”

“That’s horrible. It really is. But please, is more killing going to bring her back?”

“Shut up!” He raised his gun again. “Get out of the way, or I will…”

Amy didn’t move a muscle. “You’re not going to shoot me. I’m sure you know what will happen when you do. And I don’t think you really care that little.”

The knight seemed to take a deep breath, but didn’t answer.

“What about those kids you just mentioned? Their uncle becoming a murderer, is that what you want? Is this what  _ Beth _ would’ve wanted? Shouldn’t you be there for them?”

He snorted dismissively, but he also lowered his gun towards the ground. Finally. “As if it matters. I’m basically already dead to them.” He shook his head. “Nine more years. I’m not made for this crap, there’s no way I’m gonna…” He turned his weapon off. “Fuck, whatever. Who cares, right.”

“Thank you,” said Evan. “But please don’t give yourself up like that. Your people are still relying on you.” His voice was weird for a moment. He then relaxed and lowered his arms.

“Ah, just shut up.”

“He’s right. Don’t say things like that! There are still people who care. Your family still loves you, I’m sure!”

“Ugh. Metas...” He seemed nervous, even though he tried to sound dismissive. After a moment he forced himself to take a deep breath. “Sorry about this. Really shouldn’t have done it. The last days were just so hard and...uh, you know…ah, crap.”

“I won’t be held against you.” Evan once again sounded unfazed.

 

The door opened and the second knight came back. “Is everything alright? Command said they lost connection for a moment.”

“Yeah...everything is fine. Just a little...malfunction.”

The knight turned to Evan and Amy, who looked at each other, then back, nodding in unison.

“Okaaay, good.” He dropped the topic and directed his voice at Evan. ”You can enter. The Administration wants to see you.”

“This is not part of our mission. But...” He straightened his clothing. “We will see what we can do. Thank you for your cooperation.”

The knight looked at Amy. “Not you, ma’am, sorry.”

“What?” She acted hurt. ”I came all the way here and I don’t even get a tour?”

“Uhm, my apologies, but so are the rules. You need a permit and we have to prepare a suit and all that. We’re, you know, spraying nanobodies in there that might be harmful for your kind and what you’re carrying might be bad for the things and people inside, I mean, no offense, but, uhm...”

She laughed. “I know, I know! Just messing with you.”

“Oh?”

A loud, metallic  _ WHAM!  _ caused Amy to shriek and flinch, Evan twitched as well. The knights just laughed and cheered. At least the nice one who just returned did.

“Wohoo! Man, those new railguns kick some ass.”

“W-was that one of the weapons installed up on the wall?” Evan tried his best to shrug off the shock.

“Ayup! One of the big beauties in the flak towers behind it, to be exact. AA-defense, shoots down anything airborne within 50 kilometers that’s over a certain size, unless it identifies as friendly. Of course we also have others that target any land-bound krell we detect, although their range is smaller.” The knight sounded a little excited and quite proud as he rattled down those specs.

“All automated? Isn’t that a bit, I don’t know, risky?” Amy wondered, still a bit shaken.

“Unless you Heirs start using planes again, not really. Actually, if you do that, let us know.”

“Eh, I see no reason why we should.”

“And, you know, don’t bring your pets too close, but that should be obvious. James, by the way.”

“Amy.”

The knight who had threatened Evan started speaking again. “No second shot. Looks like they got the bastard.”

“Yeah. They did some really good work with the control-spirits.”

Evan walked up to the door. “I really need to go now. Thank you for your help, Amy, but I’m afraid this is goodbye.”

“Will we see each other again? I’d love to stay friends!”

He looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind. After sighing, he answered. “Will see what I can do.”

“And wait! How will you even get back to space? Don’t you need to get back to the capsule?”

“Don’t worry about that. We have our ways.”

“I see. Great! See you later, then! And good luck with your mission!”

Evan simply nodded and disappeared through the door.

For a moment, Amy just stood there, staring at the concrete ground. She could feel the unnatural surface through her light sandals. Cold, smooth and hard.

“So the Exalted are still around? Even after all this time?” said the knight called James, to no one in particular. “Man, I certainly didn’t expect something like this when I got out of bed today.”

“I don’t really buy it, honestly. All we saw was an Operator, who knows what this really was about. I mean, I heard even the Watch uses them.”

“But not the Human types, right? Also, that’s just a rumor anyway.”

“The Watch?” asked Amy.

“Automated security system of Orchid. Has killed a bunch of us in the olden days, but is mostly on our side now. We hope.”

“Won’t defend the Garden, though,” grumbled his partner. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”

“Wait...the Watch kills Humans?” asked Amy.

“Used to, but yeah. It’s pretty weird.”

She scratched her head, wondering how she had never heard of this. Or did she just forget? Anyway, time for a change in topics.

“By the way, why are you guys using swords? Don’t tell me you’re actually fighting krell with those.”

James laughed. “Well, no. Not unless something goes horribly wrong first. This is more, uh, a part of our contribution to the preservation of Old World culture. We’re trying to keep the old fighting techniques alive and such.”

“It’s just ceremonial bullcrap,” the grumpy knight added, sounding grumpy. “Some idiot a couple hundred years ago had the brilliant idea that ‘knights’ shouldn’t be without swords, so we all get one when we take the oath and have to train with it. Pure waste of time. Most of us don’t even carry them into battle.”

“But it’s important! The Humans in the past have used swords for so many centuries. Here, look!”

“Oh come on…” The grumpy knight groaned as his partner drew his sword, a straight, single-edged blade. 

He went into a fighting stance and did a few moves with it.

Amy tried not to laugh at the clumsy attempt to impress her, hoping that the knight couldn’t read eye colors. “That’s, uhm...amazing!”

“Put that away before we get in trouble, you idiot!”

“Come on, man! Relax a bit.”

“Ugh!”

“Do you guys mind if I look around a bit?” asked Amy. She was excited to explore this new kind of area.

“Oh, sure. Knock yourself out. Just don’t try to get inside or something. Oh, and if you hear a siren, get as far away from the wall as possible, as quickly as you can. Don’t want you get hit by a stray shot or something like that. The wall won’t hold back.”

“Alright!”

 

As she walked away in the direction of the damaged part in the wall, she could hear the knights talk. They apparently believed she was out of earshot, probably unaware of her keen hearing.

“Aw crap.” said James.

“What is it?”

“You know you need a vacation when the goddamn Heirs start looking cute.”

“What. Dude...no. Seriously? Just look at those creepy eyes.”

“I thought they are fascinating.”

“And what is going on with the skin?”

“Come on, that’s not so bad.”

“You’re crazy. No. Just no. You know how it is.  _ Not compatible _ .”

“Ah, come on. Is  _ that _ so important? And I mean, they’re still people, right? I mean, Humans. Kind of.”

“I bet she’s like two hundred years old. If not more. Probably more.”

“And?”

“Shit, man. You’re hopeless. Get a ticket or something.”

She decided to stop listening on them.

 

Did the knight really think she was cute? A strange thought. It was true that she hadn’t had a partner in a while, but an Orchidian? He did seem like a nice person…

“No, don’t even think about it.” she mumbled to herself. His friend was right, that was ridiculous. Impossible. Their kinds were far too different now. They couldn’t eat each other’s food, or live in each other’s worlds. They could harm or even kill the other just by being close together without protection.

She knew some of the old stories, from the time right after the transformation. About Orchidians who had tried living with their old, changed friends and families, or the other way around.

None of these stories ended well.

As she walked in the shadow of the huge wall on her left, she shook off these thoughts and tried to take in the atmosphere of this place. Cold, dark. Deadly. The wall was an intricate instrument of war, with forward-reaching bastions, embrasures, automated turrets of all sizes and types, sensor arrays and who-knows what else. It was ugly as hell, and yet this horrible thing was protecting such a tiny, precious world.

She already yearned to go back to the wilderness, her own world. But she couldn’t leave just yet.

 

The site of the attack was unsettling. The upper two thirds of what appeared like an invincible wall had been torn open and broken through in several spots. Almost everything else was covered in deep claw marks of all sizes, or holes where the reinforced concrete had been ripped apart like paper. Other parts seemed melted or corroded. 

Rubble was everywhere, and there were large, black spots and smoldering ash heaps on the ground where they had burned something. Krell corpses. Many more of them were already stacked onto endless piles. As she looked closer, she swallowed hard. Most of them looked like they were exploded open somehow, severely burned or just torn apart. 

She had almost forgotten how good Old World Humans could be at killing. Had she really been like this, too? She knew it must be true, but it was so hard to believe. The mere thought of taking a life made her feel sick.

She was a bit more sensitive in this regard, but not unusually so. Others of her kind were able to catch fish, or to hunt small animals for food. But nobody dared to attack something the size of an average krell, and of course hurting other people was plain unthinkable.

A movement and the sound of strong machinery caught her attention, as one of the large turrets up on the wall swiveled around abruptly. Then the barrel did a series of tiny movements, as if it was following something at the horizon, something that was so far away that not even Amy’s sharp eyes could make it out. 

A grim reminder that the Orchidians not only could kill themselves, they even invented weapons that did it for them, all by themselves. Amy tried to imagine the workings of a mind capable of coming up with something like that. But it only made her realize how different she had become, and a strange feeling she didn’t quite understand filled her chest. 

The turret stopped moving, without firing a shot. At least not this time.

Amy was relieved, and went on to take a closer look at the corpses. She recognized almost all of the species, having seen them in settlements or in the wild. None of them had ever shown any kind of aggression towards her. Others she knew from descriptions. But there were also a few, especially some very big ones, she wasn’t familiar with at all. It reminded her of the weird creature that had attacked Evan, and the large ‘type seven’ she had seen months ago. Apparently the krell were keeping a lot of secrets, even now. How strange.

She tore her eyes from the ghastly site and was about to leave, when she heard a weak voice from above. “H-hey, who is- oh no, why are you not wearing a suit? Th-that’s dangerous, oh no...”

She looked up. “Hi! I’m Amy.”

“Oh. Oh! Y-you’re a Metahuman...I mean an Heir of course, haha, I’m sorry, I didn’t, uhm...”

She squinted to make out what exactly she was talking to. A small humanoid wearing work clothes and a cap, but also having some kind of short fur and animalistic facial features. Its long, drooping ears made it look a bit sad, or maybe tired, or both. 

Amy would’ve loved nothing more than to climb up and give the cute thing a hug, but that was probably a bad idea. 

“You’re a spirit, right?” she asked instead.

“Y-yes. My f-friends call me Pin.”

“Hello, Pin! There’s more of your kind?”

“Oh, many! The Humans make us, I-I mean the Orchidians of course, I’m sorry I didn’t want to…”

“It’s okay, relax. You, uhm, seem a little stressed out.”

“Yeah...there’s s-so much work. We have to fix the wall and the damage to the Garden and clean up and everything…”

“I see. How bad is it?”

“P-pretty bad. But, uh, it c-could be worse, I guess. I mean, a-at least they didn’t get too many c-crops this time. Th-that’s always bad.” The small creature looked around nervously before sitting down with his legs over the side of the broken wall. “I-if we can’t fulfill our quotas the Humans get hungry, and when they are hungry they g-get angry at us.” He seemed to remember something, and if he didn’t look sad before, now he absolutely did. “Then they t-take more from our share, and then everything is rationed and we get hungry too. I h-hate that…”

“What, that’s horrible! I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“S-sorry, I didn’t want to ramble. I-I never talked to a Me- I mean, an Heir before. C-can I ask, how is it like, out there? D-do you go hungry, too?”

“No, not at all. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I was really hungry.”

“O-oh. That must be so nice…”

 

They talked for a bit, while Amy made a sketch of Pin. Then someone out of sight started shouting, and the spirit hastily excused himself before hustling back to work.

Amy just hoped he wouldn’t get into trouble for the little unscheduled break.

 

A distant railgun shot was heard, coming from a faraway part of the wall. It echoed for a bit between the towers.

 

\----------

 

Amy stayed for a bit, exploring the dead zone around the wall, but Evan didn’t return. The knights at the entrance couldn’t tell her anything, either. They agreed to pose for a drawing, although they were surprised at the request. In return, James wanted to take some pictures of her with his helmet camera, so she struck a few silly poses herself. That made even his grumpy partner laugh. 

 

The next day she talked to Pin and the other spirits, who were all very curious about her. Some of them had witnessed the attack and talked about how the krell had come at night, focussing all their strength onto this small part of the wall. There had been a lot of fighting, explosions, flashes and terrifying noise. Then the krell had broken through, spilling into the Garden, and immediately went into a frenzy. Most of them had focussed more on destroying everything around them than fighting, which had allowed the knights to counter-attack and kill them all. 

 

Then their Human supervisor showed up and scolded them for slacking off. She wore a civilian protective suit and a breathing mask, although no helmet, and introduced herself as Maria. She calmly asked Amy to not distract the spirits, and explained that the wall needed to be fixed until the next attack, at all costs.

Amy could just barely make out Maria’s eyes under her protective glasses. Green, surrounded by white. Unchanging.

 

The knights were exchanged, but the new ones didn’t know anything about what happened to the Angel, either. 

 

She hid in one of the ruins for the nights. Uncomfortable, but at least there was some protection against the constant, chilly wind. When she couldn’t sleep she climbed on top of the ruin and looked up at the moon. The moon looked just like it did at home. Just like it always did, for as long as she could remember. It filled her with a bit of peace, knowing that no matter how this world might change, the moon would always be the same.

Sometimes, tiny lights drifted slowly past across the sky, like moving stars. Those who revered the Exalted always claimed that those lights were really important somehow. But nobody could tell exactly what they were. Only that the debris that sometimes fell from the sky likely came from them. Sadly, it was always too burned and broken to learn anything from it.

 

\----------

 

She was awoken by noise the next morning. Looking outside, she observed a group of flying machines taking off from somewhere in the city between the towers, and flying into the distance towards an unknown mission. A bit further away, she spotted a group of two knights and maybe a dozen spirits. Curious, she came closer. The spirits were wearing protective suits and face masks and were scurrying around, apparently looking for something. The knights were wearing their usual white armor, helmets closed, and carried their heavy weapons in their hands. They turned towards Amy when they noticed her approaching.

“Hello! I’m Amy!”

“Hello there,” said one of the knights, from the sound of the voice a woman. “I’m Corporal Green. This is Squire Song.”

Amy assumed those were their last names. “Nice to meet you two.”

“Are you the Metahuman people are talking about?”

“Metahuman?”

“Sorry. ‘Heir’. That’s what you want to be called these days, right?”

“Uhm, I guess. But really, you can just call me Amy.”

The female knight shrugged. “Okay then. Amy. How can we help you?”

“Oh...I was just curious what you guys are doing here.”

“Well, what does it look like?” She raised her arm in a gesture towards the spirits. As if on cue, one of them in particularly heavy-looking clothing tried to set something on fire with a small flamethrower. 

“Pioneer work,” she continued. “Destroy those damn trees, bushes, fungus, all that crap, before they get too big or grow too close to the wall. Recover any metal we can find. Stuff like that.”

“And we knights are here to oversee and protect the spirits, of course,” added her partner, the ‘Squire’, whatever that might be. He sounded like a soft-spoken young man.

“I see.” Amy observed the bustling spirits with fascination. The one with the flamethrower had problems. Amy recognized the plant he was trying to set on fire as a little velvet tree and shook her head. Those never burned, not even when dry.

“Not that there’s a lot we two can do against anything powerful enough to get through the fire of the towers,” Green commented, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder towards the wall. “But don’t tell that to those little suckers. Don’t want them to get scared and start crying again.” Her tone was just as mean as her words.

“Uh, sure...say, what was with those flying machines earlier?”

“The Orkans? We don’t know. And even if we knew, we couldn’t tell you.”

“What is  _ she _ going to do with confidential information, though?” asked Song, sounding amused.

“Wrong question,” growled his partner. “Rules exist for a reason, we don’t make them, we just follow them.”

“Right, right…”

“Heeey,” shouted one of the spirits, head peeking out from behind the sad remains of what might have been a wall a long time ago. “We could use your help here!”

“Is it a krell?” shouted Green back.

“Uh.” The spirit glanced down at something out of sight. “No, it’s just-”

“Then shut the FUCK UP!” shouted Green, exploding from calm to angry so fast it made Amy jump. “The Humans are talking here! You know what that means, you idiotic little creep!?”

The spirit didn’t answer, instead he just raised his hands in a defeated gesture and disappeared behind the wall.

“Wow,” said Amy. “That was harsh.”

Green shrugged. “I’m as nice to them as they deserve it.”

Amy wasn’t sure what to make of this answer. “But...they’re so cute!”

The knight snorted. “Yeah, right. They’re made to look like that, sure. But you never know what’s going on in their dumb little heads. You know, they have these weird electronic cores instead of brains? Whatever they look like, deep down they’re just machines. They don’t  _ think _ like us, they have no, you know, souls? And yet they walk around, they talk to each other, they make decisions, all on their own.”

“What’s so bad about this?” asked Amy.

“Just think about it for a while, eventually it’ll sink in how creepy that is.”

“I still don’t think they’re that bad,” commented Song.

A noise that might’ve been a weary sigh was heard through Green’s helmet speaker. “You just wait. Work with them for a while. And you will understand.”

“Uhm,” started Amy, interested in changing topics, “I’ve been wondering, aren’t those things really heavy?” She pointed at the gun in Green’s hands. “I mean, I’m not that weak but isn’t it a huge pain to carry these things whole day long?”

“The plasma rifles?” asked the addressed knight, “sure they are. But that’s why” she grabbed the gun at the grip that was mounted on top of it, “they give us the frames.” Without effort, she lifted the black, bulky weapon, stretching out her arm at a right angle to the side.

“The frames,” repeated Amy, in a way that made it clear she had no idea what that was.

The knight chuckled. “Standardized augmentations. All they do is pretty much replace your arms and legs with those better, stronger ones. And since your back and everything would too weak, they bolt on an external reinforcement on that, too. That’s the frame.”

“It’s...a bit more elaborate than that,” added her partner.

“Oh, listen to Mr. Smartass,” snarked Green in response. “But yeah. Still, that’s pretty much how it works. Greater strength and all that, for the low cost of all your limbs.”

“Does...this hurt?”

”Like a bitch. As you can probably imagine. Actually, can you? I heard your kind doesn’t know pain anymore.” Her tone became deriding. “With your lives being just fun and games and all that.”

Amy wasn’t quite sure how to react to this attempt at belittling or provoking her. She wished she could at least see Green’s face. Look her in the eyes, instead of those lifeless optical sensors. 

“Fun and games, huh” she started after a moment, forcing a smile. “That reminds me of that one time where I was climbing around in the mountains. I got careless, so I slipped and fell on a rock, breaking a whole bunch of my bones, you can probably imagine how much  _ that _ hurt. Because we totally still feel pain, you know.”

“Uhm…” 

“So yeah! My spine was broken, too. Couldn’t move my legs for two days, had to lay still the whole time. And it was summer, so the sun burned down on me all day long. But then everything healed and now,” she demonstratively bounced a few times on her toes and stretched, “good as new!”

The knights just stared at her. Green let her outstretched arm with the rifle drop.

“Oh, and a few years ago I was sleeping outside during winter, and it was too cold, so some of my fingers died.” She held up her hand and showed her - perfectly healthy - fingers. “So I had to tear them off, one by one.” She mimicked the motion. “It hurt like, uh, a bitch! But then those tumors started growing and-”

“Okay stop,” interrupted Song, sounding a bit queasy, “I think we get it.”

Green looked to him, then back to Amy.

“Your fingers froze off and you didn’t wake up? How the hell did you even manage to fall asleep in such a bad cold?”

Amy hid her hands behind her back. “I, uh, may have been a little drunk.” She looked to the side. “Maybe more than a little.”

The knight started laughing. “Alright, I get it. Looks like there’s still a thing or two we have in common. Also, uh, I guess you are tougher than you look, after all.”

“Uh, thanks? You, uhm, are tough too.”

“Have to be.”

“And yet not tough enough to survive out here without this armor,” commented Song in a low voice.

Green moved for a second as if she wanted to punch him. But then she relaxed. “Well, that’s just how it is,” she said instead. “Despite all this tech we’re still just fragile little Humans.”

“Since when are you so philosophical?” teased Song.

“Shut up.”

“What does wearing this armor feel like?” asked Amy. “If I’m honest, I’ve been wondering the whole time.”

“Uh, it’s easier than it looks,” answered Green, “if that’s what you’re wondering about. It has its own servos and that stuff, and it’s connected to the frame. So it carries its own weight and you don’t really feel it.”

“Oooh. I wonder if I could wear one.”

Green realized immediately where this was going. “The answer is no. Do you have any idea how valuable these things are?”

“Aw come on. I’ll bring it back, I promise.”

Song started laughing. 

Green remained calm. “What do  _ you _ need one of our suits for?”

“Oh, I just had this brilliant idea. These might be perfect to get into a ghost bee hive.”

“What...bees? Why? You want to collect honey or something?”

“Exactly! This stuff is incredible, you should see it! It has this rainbow-colored glow and the taste is unbelievable! But it’s almost impossible to get, so I thought...”

Now Green started chuckling too. “Oh wow, you’re unbelievable. Sorry, Amy, but I’m afraid you’ll have to find another way to get your special honey.”

Song laughed even harder. Green turned towards him, and her and Amy watched patiently while the knight tried to calm down.

 

“By the way, do you know anything about Evan?” asked Amy, feeling that Green was about to get angry again.

“About who?”

“The guy I came with. He’s an Angel.”

“I don’t know anything about your sweetheart.”

“My- Oh! No, no, he’s an actual Angel. Like, you know, he’s on a mission for the Exalted Besa and everything?”

Green tilted her head towards Song. “Hey Smartass, what is she talking about?”

“Uuuhm...an Angel, like, an Operator from the Exalted? For real now?”

“Of course!”

The Squire shook his head. “I heard nothing about one arriving at Orchid. Sorry.”

“Huh. Weird. Still, thank you.”

“Didn’t even know they still existed.”

“Alright, that’s enough talk,” said Green in an assertive tone. “We have to get back to work. Gotta see what those little squirts are on about, before one gets set on fire again.”

“Oh, right. Of course. Thank you for your time.”

The three said their goodbyes and parted ways.

 

Work on the wall continued, and the railgun-fire got on her nerves, but aside from that, nothing interesting happened anymore. Evan didn’t return, either.

 

After four days in this depressing place, and living off little more than stale rainwater and whatever lichen she could find, she couldn’t hang around much longer. Amy felt horrible. This whole situation was a nightmare. Elena was right, but even though she had been aware of it, seeing it up close like that was something else entirely. She tried telling herself, this wasn’t the Blind Age, so at least this was the last war this world would ever see. But it was only a small comfort. It seemed doomed to rage on forever, or until one side was no more. Why couldn’t there just be some peaceful solution to this? 

And so she, too, began wondering. Why couldn’t the Exalted just do something? Anything?

Or were they about to? Was Elena right and Evan’s mission was more than he claimed it was? He probably wouldn’t have answered, but maybe she should’ve asked him. Now it was too late.

 

When she started her journey back home, she made sure to come past the ruin with the white flower, only to discover that it had been destroyed. Apparently a krell that was small enough to evade the sensors of the wall had gotten to it. Nothing from the Old World was tolerated. Not even this.

She tried to see if she could find any tracks, but there wasn’t much. Maybe a clicker? Amy thought about Clara, her own pet clicker who was waiting for her at home. Was she missing her? Clickers always acted like they didn’t care about anything, but once you got them to stay they never left. 

Of course, Clara would’ve destroyed this flower as well, given the chance.

She wiped away an inky tear, sighed and turned to leave.

 

Amy decided to follow the road leading away from Orchid, which eventually turned into little more than a dirt path. Soon, she was in a real forest again and could finally look for some actual food. As usual, it didn’t take long to find something. She also came across a little stream to wash herself and her clothing. Heirs didn’t really smell, but several days in this filthy place had left their mark.

A full stomach, the air and colors of the forest helped her feel much better soon. She even managed to find a plexus knot, so she could call home and let everyone know she was on her way back. 

Continuing on her way along the path, she eventually discovered a small wayside shrine dedicated to the Exalted. It looked old and decrepit, and normally she would’ve walked right past it. But this time she stopped.

It was probably hundreds of years old. Someone had invested a lot of time carving a large, oval shape from granite. They had chiseled a large Exalted symbol in the middle, surrounded by various scenes of Angels interacting with Humans. Amy recognized the one where the Exalted gave Humanity a special book called the Guide. She still remembered reading excerpts of it in school when she was a child. That was so incredibly long ago. The memories were relatively strong but also distant, as if they were from an entirely different person.

Another scene showed the Awakening, the time when Humanity had created the Exalted a long, long time ago. At that time they all had become the Godmakers, and the Blind Age ended. 

After a moment of hesitation she began to clean and fix up the shrine, using materials she found in the forest and her small knife. It was the only metal object she owned, a rare little treasure. 

The plant life of the New World provided not just food, but many types of useful matter, and every Heir had to learn how to use them to make all kinds of practical items. 

Some of them then specialized and tried to become as good as possible, honing their skills over decades and centuries. And so there were now masters who managed to create amazing works of art and craftsmanship.

 

After she was satisfied with her work she wondered if she should say a prayer or something like that. She couldn’t remember anything, though, so she just quietly asked Besa to watch over Evan and bring him home safely.

“Is there a point to this? I heard they don’t listen anymore.”

She turned towards the voice, a man on a cart pulled by a mule, another type of krell. There was a kind-looking woman beside him. They followed the path, coming from the direction she was traveling in.

Amy gave a mysterious smile. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

He just returned a warm smile and his eyes got a slight golden tinge. “I’m Dan. This is Elsa.”

“Amy.”

Elsa just nodded.

She tried to see what they were transporting. Looked like a pile of reddish-brown rocks.

“It’s iron.” Dan answered the question she was about to ask. “We find it in the swamps near our settlement. When we showed some of it to the Orchidians they got really excited, and basically begged us to bring as much as we can. So that’s what we’re doing.”

Amy picked one of the rocks up and examined it closer. “This is metal? I thought it was pretty much all gone now.”

“Apparently it wasn’t there after the big change. But that was before my time. It must’ve somehow settled in the still water since then.”

Amy raised her eyebrows. “Before your time? Second generation?”

“Third.”

“Wow, really?” She didn’t bother to hide her surprise. “My brother Jake is second gen, but I don’t think I’ve met a third gen before.”

He smiled again. “Why do I keep hearing that? Guess there’s still not many of us yet.”

Elsa chuckled. “Don’t listen to him. He’s third gen only on his father’s side. My family found itself after the change, but we had not a single child, all this time. Fifty-something years ago, my sister met a second gen and well, Dan was a bit of a surprise. Now he feels all special and everything.”

“Aw, come on Elsa…” he groaned.

Amy grinned. “I see. Jake was born only a few years after the change. You should’ve seen how happy my mom was. She always wanted another child, but never managed to get another license. In the Old World, I mean. But since then...same thing. Nothing.”

“What’s a license?” asked Dan.

“It’s a thing you needed for certain things back then,” answered Elsa. “Including babies.”

Dan looked amazed. “Man, all those weird stories from the Old World. So hard to imagine people really lived like that. If I hadn’t seen Orchid and the people there, I would’ve thought it was all just fairy tales.”

“You’re coming from there?” Elsa’s question was directed at Amy.

“Yeah. They didn’t let me in, though.”

“Typical.” She smirked knowingly.

Amy tossed the rock back on the cart. “So, you’re trading this stuff with them?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it trading.” Dan answered. “We’re just giving it to them.”

“Really? Why?”

He shrugged. “To help them, I guess. They need it. They’re starved for metals of all kinds, you know. I mean, I know it’s not much, of course. Look at the size of that place and all. But every bit helps, I guess. It’s not like we have a need for this stuff, anyway.”

“We’re just the first. There’s more carts coming later, but we have to be careful. The wall doesn’t like our animals.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Amy’s voice was stone cold.

“We’ll have to push the cart for the last part. Thankfully they build a road for us now.”

“Ah, so that’s what it’s for. Say, you got relatives there?”

“Maybe. I think we used to have some.” answered Dan. “My parents mentioned something like that. But that shouldn’t matter, anyway.”

“...I guess you’re right. But, uhm, you’re not bothered that they’re going to use it to, you know, make weapons and all that? I mean, I just saw what they’re capable of.”

His eyes shifted to light blue. “They...of course they make far more than just that. But you’re not wrong. I really wish they didn’t have to do that, but I guess that’s just how it is.”

“That war thing really got to you, didn’t it,” said Elsa.

Amy nodded. Lost in thought for a moment, she scratched the mule’s head, who seemed to like it, making little squeaking noises.

 

Of course, being a beast of burden wasn’t this creature’s intended purpose. Amy had seen many of them in the corpse piles. They had a set of limbs that ended in razor-sharp and extremely hard scythe-blades, but they typically kept them in fitting recesses in their carapace. Apparently they could also spit some kind of powerful acid, but Amy had never seen them do that. It was a good thing they never ran into one when she was travelling with Evan.

It was easy to forget how strange it was that they used these living weapons for such mundane tasks.

 

“Will you be okay?” Elsa’s eyes were light brown with worry.

“Hmm? Yeah, I think so. Just needed a moment.”

“We also have some Old World artifacts, check this out!” Dan reached behind him, grabbed a bag and opened it. “They always love these.”

“Oh! Where did you get them?”

“Traders from the south. Apparently they found another underground ruin.”

“So that’s still happening...”

Amy looked at the stuff he showed her until something caught her eye. “Can I take a closer look at that one?”

“Sure! You know what that is?”

She felt the flat, rectangular object in her hands, turned it and examined it carefully from all sides. It was cracked and obviously broken, and in general looked as expected after lying buried in some ruin for half a millennium.

“No...I’m not sure...this is weird.”

“What?”

“Nothing, just...I think I used to have something like that? I don’t remember what it was used for, though...”

“Yeah...other first-gens have said things like that, too.”

“Damn, look at this thing. It’s _so_ _old_!” She tried to laugh, but then her hands started to tremble so badly that the device cluttered to the ground. The next thing she knew was that she was on the ground as well, crying and clutching her head, with Dan and Elsa beside her, trying their best to comfort her. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Dan.

“It happens sometimes,” explained Elsa. “I get it as well. Maybe you’ll experience it one day, too.”

“What are you talking about? What is this?”

Else held Amy’s head while she was bawling her eyes out. “It’s, well, you see, technically, our minds aren’t designed to last...this long. Most of the time, it’s fine. But sometimes it comes back to haunt us. Usually after a period of stress.”

“I...I see…”

“Hold on, old girl. You made it this far, you can do this…”

 

After the two made sure Amy was okay they talked a bit more. They told each other about their villages, and Dan and Elsa explained more about their work to deliver materials to Orchid and help the people who lived there, as difficult as it was. As more carts arrived they finally said goodbye and Amy went back on her way home.

 

\----------

 

The sun was setting when she arrived back at the village. It was built on the slopes leading down to the small river that cut the settlement roughly in half, the buildings nestled between the trunks and massive roots of the huge trees. The canopy was dozens of meters above the highest roofs, but the inhabitants took care to thin it out regularly, allowing sunlight to reach the ground. Thanks to that, the gardens were abundant. They were overgrowing with flowers and other decorative plants, but also plenty of vegetables and bushes or small trees bearing fruit, as well as spices, species providing various materials, and plants with other uses.

The winding path was accompanied by low, standing lanterns filled with bioluminescent fungus, a kind that subsisted on little more than water. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but their green glow was already visible. It wasn’t very bright, at least compared to the powerful electric lights Amy had seen at Orchid, but enough for the sharp eyes of the Heirs. 

More light came from the windows of the houses. The buildings were all made from wood, constructed in a round, almost organic-looking style that was difficult and time consuming to build. But if the inhabitants of this village had one thing in abundance, it was time.

 

“Hello Phillip,” she greeted the relaxed-looking man who was working in his garden. She could make out the smell of burned golden mugwort. Philip was known to smoke it, and it was probably the main reason he was so laid-back all the time. Of course, the habit was pretty much harmless. Nothing in this world could do any lasting damage.

“Hey Amy. Haven’t seen you in days. Heard some crazy stuff, like you were on a trip with an Angel or something? To Orchid, of all places?”

Amy grinned and scratched the back of her head. “Well...it’s all true.”

He looked impressed. “Damn, and I missed it. Would’ve loved to see that.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about it later. How’s Andrea doing?”

He looked back to his house. “Obsessed with her work, as usual. Have you seen that one already?” He pointed at a wooden sculpture about twice as big as a person, standing next to the entrance door.

“Is that her new one?” asked Amy, walking over to get a better look.

“Yes. Three years, every day, every waking hour. But now she’s done with it.”

“Wow.” She took a moment to examine the surreal, extremely finely carved work of art. The sheer amount of detail was dizzying. Then she turned back to him. “I have no idea what this is.”

He laughed. “You’re not the only one. She tried explaining it to me, and it sorta made sense, but I already forgot most of it again.”

“Is it just me or does her stuff get more and more bizarre each time?”

He shrugged, smiling. “Yeah, well, probably. But she loves it and that’s all that matters, at least to me. I just hope she won’t decide that she actually hates it in a few weeks and destroys it. Again.” He clipped a few twigs from the bush he was working on, using a pair of scissors made from krell claws.

“That would be a shame. After all this work.”

“I guess. But, well, you know what she’s like.”

Amy gave a knowing smile. “Yeah…”

“Amyyyyy!!!”

Both turned towards the direction of the shout. They spotted Lia, who was standing on the road a bit further away, waving excitedly. 

Philip chuckled. “Alright, it’s about time anyway. I should go to check on my wife and remind her she still needs to eat.”

“Alright! See you later!”

He just smiled and nodded, before turning to leave.

 

Lia tackled Amy and hugged her tightly, causing the latter to realize how much she had missed hugs like that. It was always good to come back.

“Lia! S-stop it!” Amy laughed as she tried to free herself from her friend’s embrace.

“You can’t just leave like that! I mean, I know you like to disappear for a few days, like, all the time, but going to a dangerous place like that! I was sooo worried, what if-”

“Lia. Lia! It’s alright. Nothing bad has happened, I’m here, it’s all good!” She looked into her eyes, noticing they were teary but also sparkling with the gold of happiness.

A broad smile appeared on Lia’s face. “Okay, yes. Aw, I’m just glad you’re back. How bad was it? I heard the place is dreadful.”

“Well, it kind of is. I’ll tell you more later, I promise.”

“Oh, you should come to Tess’ place later. They’re planning a party. There’s gonna be music and everything! And if you show up with your stories we could probably convince them to break out one of the barrels with the good stuff.”

Amy pretended to think really hard and serious about this. “Hmmmm, I don’t know, this  _ does _ sound tempting, but I had those plans about sitting in my room alone, with just water to drink…” She let a moment pass and started laughing. Lia joined in immediately.

After they had calmed down, Lia’s face suddenly got serious. “You’re going to go back, aren’t you?”

Amy’s eyes went wide with surprise. Despite being half a century older than Amy, Lia usually acted a whole lot more immature. But she also had the uncanny ability to read people, to the point where it sometimes looked like she could hear their thoughts.

Amy bit her lip and nodded. “I was thinking about it. They aren’t doing well. I mean, at all. Some of the people living nearby are trying to help, so I was wondering if there’s something I could do, too.”

“Alright!”

“What, you’re not protesting?”

Lia chuckled. “You’re still the kind of person who always needs to help others. That’s why you jumped on the chance to help that Angel, too, am I right?”

“Ahaha, well…”

“Believe it or not, it’s not all that fun to watch you wander around aimlessly all the time. So maybe that’s your calling, then? Also, I’m coming with you.”

“Wow, thanks Lia, that is- wait, what?”

Lia crossed her arms. “Don’t try to talk me out of it. I really, I mean, I need to see something new, too. Sounds like the perfect chance to me!”

“Ah,” Amy raised an eyebrow, suspecting that Lia was up to something. Had she seen something in her eyes for a moment? Maybe she had imagined it. “I mean, okay! I wasn’t exactly looking forward to walking the entire route alone, so this is perfect.”

“Exactly!” Lia looked around. “Okay, I need to go now. And you should probably let your family know you’re back!”

“Oh, right! See you later, Lia!”

“Later, Amy!”

The house she shared with her mother and her brother Jake was up at the edge of the settlement. A cozy, two-storied building with a roof that was painted in a dreamlike pattern of pastel colors. Before she entered, she went to a small headstone in their little garden. It was ancient and weathered, and had been fixed several times from damage it had sustained when they had moved it. 

“Hey dad.”

For a minute, she just stood there in silence, trying to recall the little time they had spent together. Back then, in the Old World. 

It kept getting harder. The one painful part of the life in New World were the constantly fading memories. She used her drawings to slow down this problem, others used writing or other methods. Some had already given up, choosing a life focussed on the here and now. But this was hard for those who had lost loved ones, back in a time when people still had to die.

When she was done, she went to the house and opened the door.

“Mom! Jake! You here? I’m back!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope you liked it, and I would love to hear your opinion.


End file.
